This is a petition to Downing Street asking them to prevent tv production companies/broadcasters from allowing child abuse on their programmes.
If you were disturbed at the promotion of baby torture on Channel Four's Bringing up baby, please consider adding your name to this petition. Please click the link, it's VERY easy to fill out.
All babies deserve our love, care, respect and committment to their well-being. Please help put an end to the insanity of denying a baby it's BASIC BIOLOGICAL NEEDS. Thanks, Veronika
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/parentingshows/
Veronika Sophia Robinson, author and novelist.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Vaccination Awareness
Today’s blog is written by a guest blogger, Joanna Karpasea-Jones.
She is a neuro-psychological immunologist and the author of Breast Milk ~ a natural immunization.
This is specifically for those readers who don’t read her columns in The Mother magazine and want answers to an earlier blog of mine on vaccination.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a lot of people lived in poverty without proper food, housing or sanitation. This meant that larger numbers of people died at those times from infectious diseases. The same is true in war times.
We no longer die in such great numbers because of the marvellous invention of the indoor flushing toilet, adequate food for everyone (for the first time in history), heating, decent housing and contraception. Contraception has ensured that most women only have 2 or 3 children, as opposed to 15 or 20, and so she is more able to bear a healthy child if she can take care of herself and her child, and not subject herself to numerous pregnancies. Alcohol abuse is also a causative factor in diphtheria, as is underlying disease.
It stated in ‘Medical World’, 1931, p.627, that ‘"…shows an interesting and conclusive fashion the definitive effect of school buildings, their construction and sanitation, on the spread of diphtheria. The highest incidence was observed in those schools where sanitation is most deficient and ventilation and lighting the least satisfactory. The brightest and airiest school showed the lowest incidence, and the incidence throughout all the schools placed them in exact order of sanitary virtue. Moreover, the incidence indicated the schools where malnutrition in the children is most conspicuous."
As we can see from the above, over-crowding and malnutrition played a key role.
By the time vaccinations were introduced, most of these killer infectious diseases had become more benign.
The vaccine is also known not to be effective in many cases, and may actually cause the spread of the disease.
According to Minutes of the 15th Session (November 20-21, 1975) of the Panel of Review of Bacterial Vaccines and Toxoids with Standards and Potency (data presented by the US Bureau of Biologics, and the FDA):‘For several reasons, diphtheria toxoid, fluid or absorbed, is not as effective an immunizing agent as might be anticipated. Clinical (symptomatic) diphtheria may occur . . . in immunized individuals--even those whose immunization is reported as complete by recommended regimes . . . the permanence of immunity induced by the toxoid . . . is open to question.’Medics have always known this vaccine doesn’t work and have been writing about it since it was invented. For instance, in the ‘Practitioner’, April 1896, it was written ‘that the serum did not, to any appreciable degree, prevent the extension of the disease to the larynx; all the severe cases died, and the good result in the lighter ones was attributable to the mild type of the epidemic." The doctor also states that, at the Hospital of Bligdam, Copenhagen, "the mortality from diphtheria remains the same after, as it was before.’Dr. Joseph Winters published a book, ‘Clinical Observations upon the Use of Anti-Toxin in Diphtheria’, in which he stated: ‘percentage of mortality is not only misleading, but is absolutely worthless unless accompanied by the actual number of cases reported and the actual number of deaths." He also declares that "the serum has an injurious effect, and will certainly be abandoned."Also, the famous Dr. Hadwen wrote in his booklet, ‘The Anti-Toxin Treatment of Diphtheria: In Theory and Practice’, that in 1895 in Berlin the mortality rate from diphtheria was 15.7% (before any vaccination). By 1900 (after vaccination) this figure had risen to 17.2%. According to Metropolitan Asylums Board Annual Reports, 1895-1910, the death rate from Diphtheria in 1910 was 9.80% in those who had received anti-toxin and only 2.99% in those who had not received it. In more recent years there have also been numerous studies of ‘failure’ of DPT vaccine to ‘immunize’ against the diseases it was designed to prevent. As an example, here are some studies:Journal of Infectious Diseases, vol. 179, April 1999; 915-923. "Temporal trends in the population structure of bordetella pertussis during 1949-1996 in a highly vaccinated population "Despite the introduction of large-scale pertussis vaccination in 1953 and high vaccination coverage, pertussis is still an endemic disease in The Netherlands, with epidemic outbreaks occurring every 3-5 years." One factor that might contribute to this is the ability of pertussis strains to adapt to vaccine-induced immunity, causing new strains of pertussis to re-emerge in this well-vaccinated population.Vaccination against whooping-cough. Efficacy versus risks (The Lancet, vol. 1, January 29, 1977, pp. 234-7): Calculations based on the mortality of whooping-cough before 1957 predict accurately the subsequent decline and the present low mortality… Incidence [is] unaffected either by small-scale vaccination beginning about 1948 or by nationwide vaccination beginning in 1957… No protection is demonstrable in infants."
The Lancet Volume 353, Number 9150 30 January 1999 Risk of diphtheria among schoolchildren in the Russian Federation in relation to time since last vaccination Quote:In 1993, the Russian Federation reported 15229 cases of diphtheria, a 25-fold increase over the 603 cases reported in 1989.1 The incidence rate among children 7-10 years of age (15·7 per 100000) was twice that of adults aged 18 years or over (7·9 per 100000).
81% of the affected children aged 7-10 years had been vaccinated with at least a primary series of diphtheria toxoid, and most had received the first booster recommended to be given 12 months after completion of the primary series.
Shimoni, Zvi; Dobrousin, Anatoly; Cohen, Jonathan; et al. "Tetanus in an Immunised Patient" British Medical Journal Online (10/16/99) Vol. 319, No. 7216, P. 1049;Israeli researchers present the case of a 34-year-old construction worker who was hospitalized after having a reported epileptic fit and experiencing flu-like symptoms. The patient had a low-grade fever, but was alert and coherent. Any attempts to speak or get up on the second day resulted in attacks of risus sardonicus, opisthotonus, and trismus. The patient was diagnosed with tetanus and given 2000 U of human tetanus immunoglobulin. Further treatment was provided, and after 15 days, the patient had stopped taking diazepam and ventilatory support was withdrawn. The man had been fully immunized against tetanus, and had received booster shots five and two years before being hospitalized.
Another reason for the fall in infectious disease rates is that diseases are classified according to vaccine status. For instance, tonsillitis and mild Diphtheria have identical symptoms: severe sore throat, swollen glands in the neck, bright red tonsils and a green/yellowish or grey discharge at the back of the throat.
With severe Diphtheria, this discoloured film is impossible to remove and it may block off the airway and cause respiratory problems. Essentially, in milder cases there is no difference between tonsillitis and Diphtheria and vaccinated patients would simply be recorded as tonsillitis. Also, doctors do not test for Diphtheria anymore so they wouldn’t know whether it was present or not, and most doctors do not know what symptoms to look for to diagnose it, so all of this would skew statistics.
TUBERCULOSIS
This is also a sanitation disease and can be caused by vaccination polluting the internal system.The vaccine doesn’t work and never has and the world’s only ever double-blind controlled trial on vaccination (BCG) in the early 1970s which proved it didn’t work. However, it took almost 30 years of administering useless vaccine to people before they stopped its use.The study stated: ‘The efficacy of the TB vaccine is 0%’ (Bulletin of the WHO, Tuberculosis Prevention Trial, 57 (5); 819-827, 1979).
Here are some other studies showing that TB vaccine causes the disease:Foster DR. Miliary tuberculosis following intravesical BCG treatment. Br J Radiol. 1997 Apr;70(832):429. No abstract available. PMID: 9166085 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Foster DR. Miliary tuberculosis: a complication of intravesical BCG treatment. Australas Radiol. 1998 May;42(2):167-8. No abstract available. PMID: 9599839 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Marrak H, et al.[A case of tuberculous lupus complicating BCG vaccination]. Tunis Med. 1991 Nov;69(11):651-4. French. No abstract available.PMID: 1808776; UI: 92230052.Magnon R, et al. [See Related Articles] Disseminated cutaneous granulomas from BCG therapy. Arch Dermatol. 1980 Mar;116(3):355. No abstract available.PMID: 7369757; UI: 80174030.Vittori F, et al. [Tuberculosis lupus after BCG vaccination. A rare complication of the vaccination].
Arch Pediatr. 1996 May;3(5):457-9. French. PMID: 8763716; UI: 96297887.According to Dr. Surinder Bakhshi, Consultant in Communicable Diseases:‘BCG, the most used vaccine in the world since it was introduced more than 50 years ago, has made no difference to TB in countries which rely solely on it to halt its spread. It has never been claimed to prevent TB, but even the evidence of its protectiveness is patchy and historical. And there have been no studies of its effectiveness in the past three decades.It may leave an ugly scar and, indeed, do more harm than good. Further, as TB, with rare exceptions, is largely a disease of the elderly in the Western world, vaccinating children doesn’t make sense.
TB in Britain is a legacy of its empire. As long as people from third world countries come and settle here, there cannot be a let-up in its spread.People who come from high prevalence countries will continue to harbour TB germs in their bodies until they die.
The World Health Organisation has set its face against vaccination and routine screening. It advocates effective disease management — early diagnosis and supervised treatment — to contain it and avoid its spread to the host community. Vaccination wastes resources, gives false hope and distracts attention from what needs to be done.’(Letter, the Sunday Times, 15 April 2001).
Isolation worked in the old days and its still one of the most effective means of preventing disease.
Other diseases like Scarlet Fever and Typhus disappeared to virtually zero without vaccination.
Measles is a disease which is mild in most cases. The figures the DOH use are from the third world, not of Western children. They also include children who have pre-existing conditions, those who are malnourished and those whose measles was treated with anti-pyretics (which is known to cause measles side-effects.
In 1967, Christine Miller from the National Institute for Medical Research, London, published a paper on measles, stating: ‘Measles is now the commonest infectious disease of childhood in the UK. It occurs in epidemics in which the total number of cases usually exceeds half a million...there is no doubt that most cases in England today are mild, only last for a short period, are not followed by complications and are rarely fatal.’
Also in the Practitioner, November 1967: ‘some physicians consider that measles is so mild a complaint that a major effort at prevention is not justified.’
After the measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, followed by the MMR in 1988, the disease suddenly became more serious. According to the BMA Complete Family Medical Encyclopaedia, 1995: ‘measles is a potentially dangerous viral illness...prevention of measles is important because it can have rare but serious complications...it is sometimes fatal in children with impaired immunity.’
Clearly, you can see vaccine marketing techniques at play here.
According to the DOH, in their book ‘Immunisation Against Infectious Diseases’,‘Before 1988 (when the MMR was introduced) more than half the acute measles deaths occurred in previously healthy children who had not been immunised.’ They quote the study C L MILLER. Deaths from measles in England and Wales, 1970-83. British Medical Journal, Vol 290, 9 February 1985, but if you actually read this study (which they are relying on parents not doing), you will find it actually says:
‘No attempt was made to establish further clinical details, vaccination history, or social class.’ - i.e. they didn’t know the vaccine status of the individuals. And: ‘90% of deaths in those previously normal occurred in those over the age of 15 months, when the vaccines are usually given’. These children were probably vaccinated prior to dying of measles as they were of vaccination age.
Nearly half the children who died were ‘grossly physically or mentally abnormal or both. The pre-existing conditions in the 126 previously abnormal individuals included cerebral palsy (24), mental retardation (20), Down's syndrome (19) and various congenital abnormalities (22). There were nine children with immune deficiency or immunosuppression, and 19 aged 2-8 with lymphatic leukaemia, a number of them in remission.’
In normal healthy children whose measles has not been treated with anti-pyretics, and whom are well nourished, I would say measles is a good thing.
Diseases of childhood are there for a reason. They release toxins from the body, they mature the child’s developing immune system, which is why they occur in childhood.
According to Jayne Donegan, a medical GP, “our immune system had matured and developed purely because of catching the diseases we are trying to eradicate.
In my opinion, normal childhood diseases are basically good for us. They teach our immune system what is "us" and what is foreign.
All our childhood diseases were killers when they first came along. They wiped out thousands because we had no natural immunity against them. Diseases infect us and, in turn, strengthen our immune system.
I vaccinated both my children with the MMR jab, but this was before I started my research into the problems associated with it.”
Often, when a child has had a childhood disease such as Chickenpox or Measles, they will pass more developmental milestones such as suddenly beginning to read, or learning new words, and any existing problems seem to reverse after a bout of measles (for instance, asthmatics suddenly recover).
My own daughter had measles as a toddler and was not ill again for more than a year afterwards, not even with a cold. I believe this was because measles was a strengthening milestone for her.
In the case of tetanus, unlike other childhood diseases, it isn’t possible to gain natural immunity to tetanus. If you’ve had it once, you can have it again. The body does not produce antibodies to Clostridium Tetani. Vaccination is the act of injecting a viral or bacterial substance into the body to make it produce antibodies to that disease. However, since no natural antibodies can be made, then there is no possible way that artificial antibodies could be made either. If the disease cannot give you protection, then how can a vaccine? It is likely that any raised antibody level seen after vaccination is the result of adjuvants (toxic heavy metals which are added to increase the body’s antibody response). In the case of tetanus vaccine, this substance is aluminium.
Antibodies themselves are not an indication of immunity – this is just one function, which is vastly different from whole body immunity.
According to Vieira et al: ‘This minimal protective antibody level is an arbitrary one and is not a guarantee of security for the individual patient.’ (Vieira, B.l.; Dunne, J.W.; Summers, Q.; Cephalic tetanus in an immunized patient. Med J Austr. 1986; 145: 156-7).
Herd Immunity Theory
The herd immunity theory was originally coined in 1933 by a researcher called Hedrich. He had been studying measles patterns in the US between 1900-1931 (years before any vaccine was ever invented for measles) and he observed that epidemics of the illness only occurred when less than 68% of children had developed a natural immunity to it. This was based upon the principle that children build their own immunity after suffering with or being exposed to the disease. So the herd immunity theory was, in fact, about natural disease processes and nothing to do with vaccination. If 68% of the population were allowed to build their own natural defences, there would be no raging epidemic.
Later on, vaccinologists adopted the phrase and increased the figure from 68% to 95% with no scientific justification as to why, and then stated that there had to be 95% vaccine coverage to achieve immunity. Essentially, they took Hedrich’s study and manipulated it to promote their vaccination programmes.
If vaccination really immunises, then your vaccinated child will be immunised and therefore protected against any disease an unvaccinated child gets. If he isn’t, his shots didn’t work.
It is widely known that even those antibodies caused by tetanus vaccine adjuvants will wane or disappear completely within 5 to 10 years. That is why children have a pre-school ‘booster’ at 4 years old, despite being vaccinated 3 or more times as a baby, and why it is repeated again at 15, and in some countries, at 12. It is estimated that over 50% of the adult population is not up to date on their tetanus vaccination and therefore, unvaccinated. If it was truly vaccination that was keeping tetanus rates low, then why are there not dozens more cases of tetanus with all these adults running around? It certainly isn’t in line with their herd immunity theory, where they assert 95% of people have to be ‘immunised’ or it won’t work.
Here are a number of studies of disease occurring in the vaccinated:
Bentsi-Enchill AD, et al. Estimates of the effectiveness of a whole-cell pertussis vaccine from an outbreak in an immunized population. Vaccine. 1997 Feb;15(3):301-6. PMID: 9139490; UI: 97227584.
D. C. Christie, et al., "The 1993 Epidemic of Pertussis in Cincinnati: Resurgence of Disease in a Highly Immunized Population of Children," New England Journal of Medicine (July 7, 1994), pp. 16-20.MMWR November 05, 1993 / 42(43);840-841,847 Diphtheria Outbreak -- Russian Federation, 1990-1993 Despite high levels of vaccination coverage against diphtheria, an ongoing outbreak of diphtheria has affected parts of the Russian Federation since 1990 (1); as of August 31, 1993, 12,865 cases had been reported. This report summarizes epidemiologic information about this outbreak for January 1990- August 1993, and is based on reports from public health officials in the Russian Federation.
Shimoni, Zvi; Dobrousin, Anatoly; Cohen, Jonathan; et al. "Tetanus in an Immunised Patient" British Medical Journal Online (10/16/99) Vol. 319, No. 7216, P. 1049;
Rev. Soc. Bras. Med. Trop., vol. 28, no. 4, Oct-Dec 1995, pp. 339-43 "Clinical and epidemiological findings during a measles outbreak occurring in a population with a high vaccination coverage" : "The history of previous vaccination [in very early childhood] did not diminish the number of complications of the cases studied. The results of this work show changes in age distribution of measles leading to sizeable outbreaks among teenagers and young adults."Clin. Invest. Med., vol. 11, no. 4, August 1988, pp. 304-9: "Measles serodiagnosis during an outbreak in a vaccinated community" ( from a group of 30 measles-sufferers displaying IgM antibodies during the acute phase of illness, 17 had been vaccinated for measles. All 17 experienced measles again, showing IgM antibodies indicating acute infection. "A history of prior vaccination is not always associated with immunity nor with the presence of specific antibodies."Aaby P, et al. (1990) Measles incidence, vaccine efficacy, and mortality in two urban African areas with high vaccination coverage. J Infect Dis. 1990 Nov;162(5):1043-8. PMID: 2230232; UI: 91037153.
Boulianne N, et al.(1991) [Major measles epidemic in the region of Quebec despite a 99% vaccine coverage]. Can J Public Health. 1991 May-Jun;82(3):189-90. French. PMID: 1884314; UI: 91356447.
All vaccination does is alter the expression of diseases and weaken our immune systems because we don’t have as much opportunity to experience the wild disease. Whilst we have less infectious (self-limiting) illness, we have more chronic (long-term) illness.
1 in 3 people now have cancer. This figure is INSANE. Back in the 18th century, cancer was virtually unheard of. Meningitis was extremely rare, now many more children get it. So many people are puffing on ventolin inhalers, with allergies to nuts and strawberries and everything else. Many people have weird skin conditions, and there are dozens more auto-immune diseases than there were before vaccination, like HIV, Lupus, MS.
According to Oxford University, 1 in 58 children is autistic and there are more with ADHD. These are poisoning and brain damage conditions. This amounts to 2% of the population that are now brain damaged by this!
Vaccination has turned us into a nation of weaklings that cannot cope with anything. That is why scientists are trying to invent a ‘dirt’ vaccine to strengthen children’s immune systems.
With regard to the tribes people dying of diseases, they were white man diseases and we went in, invaded their home and their way of life (that they had been living for hundreds of years quite happily) and exposed them to our diseases, which obviously they had not encountered before.
With continued exposure, the disease would become less severe and the tribes people would not die in great numbers, as is the course of all disease if we are allowed to develop natural immunity. Personally I also feel that we in western society had no right to interfere in the way of life of the tribes people and we ought to be ashamed of this aspect of our history.
My website is www.novelbookshop.com and I am in the process of making a new website for Vaccination Awareness Network UK. I can take requests for subjects that people wish me to write about on my site as it has a selection of free to view vaccination articles.
She is a neuro-psychological immunologist and the author of Breast Milk ~ a natural immunization.
This is specifically for those readers who don’t read her columns in The Mother magazine and want answers to an earlier blog of mine on vaccination.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a lot of people lived in poverty without proper food, housing or sanitation. This meant that larger numbers of people died at those times from infectious diseases. The same is true in war times.
We no longer die in such great numbers because of the marvellous invention of the indoor flushing toilet, adequate food for everyone (for the first time in history), heating, decent housing and contraception. Contraception has ensured that most women only have 2 or 3 children, as opposed to 15 or 20, and so she is more able to bear a healthy child if she can take care of herself and her child, and not subject herself to numerous pregnancies. Alcohol abuse is also a causative factor in diphtheria, as is underlying disease.
It stated in ‘Medical World’, 1931, p.627, that ‘"…shows an interesting and conclusive fashion the definitive effect of school buildings, their construction and sanitation, on the spread of diphtheria. The highest incidence was observed in those schools where sanitation is most deficient and ventilation and lighting the least satisfactory. The brightest and airiest school showed the lowest incidence, and the incidence throughout all the schools placed them in exact order of sanitary virtue. Moreover, the incidence indicated the schools where malnutrition in the children is most conspicuous."
As we can see from the above, over-crowding and malnutrition played a key role.
By the time vaccinations were introduced, most of these killer infectious diseases had become more benign.
The vaccine is also known not to be effective in many cases, and may actually cause the spread of the disease.
According to Minutes of the 15th Session (November 20-21, 1975) of the Panel of Review of Bacterial Vaccines and Toxoids with Standards and Potency (data presented by the US Bureau of Biologics, and the FDA):‘For several reasons, diphtheria toxoid, fluid or absorbed, is not as effective an immunizing agent as might be anticipated. Clinical (symptomatic) diphtheria may occur . . . in immunized individuals--even those whose immunization is reported as complete by recommended regimes . . . the permanence of immunity induced by the toxoid . . . is open to question.’Medics have always known this vaccine doesn’t work and have been writing about it since it was invented. For instance, in the ‘Practitioner’, April 1896, it was written ‘that the serum did not, to any appreciable degree, prevent the extension of the disease to the larynx; all the severe cases died, and the good result in the lighter ones was attributable to the mild type of the epidemic." The doctor also states that, at the Hospital of Bligdam, Copenhagen, "the mortality from diphtheria remains the same after, as it was before.’Dr. Joseph Winters published a book, ‘Clinical Observations upon the Use of Anti-Toxin in Diphtheria’, in which he stated: ‘percentage of mortality is not only misleading, but is absolutely worthless unless accompanied by the actual number of cases reported and the actual number of deaths." He also declares that "the serum has an injurious effect, and will certainly be abandoned."Also, the famous Dr. Hadwen wrote in his booklet, ‘The Anti-Toxin Treatment of Diphtheria: In Theory and Practice’, that in 1895 in Berlin the mortality rate from diphtheria was 15.7% (before any vaccination). By 1900 (after vaccination) this figure had risen to 17.2%. According to Metropolitan Asylums Board Annual Reports, 1895-1910, the death rate from Diphtheria in 1910 was 9.80% in those who had received anti-toxin and only 2.99% in those who had not received it. In more recent years there have also been numerous studies of ‘failure’ of DPT vaccine to ‘immunize’ against the diseases it was designed to prevent. As an example, here are some studies:Journal of Infectious Diseases, vol. 179, April 1999; 915-923. "Temporal trends in the population structure of bordetella pertussis during 1949-1996 in a highly vaccinated population "Despite the introduction of large-scale pertussis vaccination in 1953 and high vaccination coverage, pertussis is still an endemic disease in The Netherlands, with epidemic outbreaks occurring every 3-5 years." One factor that might contribute to this is the ability of pertussis strains to adapt to vaccine-induced immunity, causing new strains of pertussis to re-emerge in this well-vaccinated population.Vaccination against whooping-cough. Efficacy versus risks (The Lancet, vol. 1, January 29, 1977, pp. 234-7): Calculations based on the mortality of whooping-cough before 1957 predict accurately the subsequent decline and the present low mortality… Incidence [is] unaffected either by small-scale vaccination beginning about 1948 or by nationwide vaccination beginning in 1957… No protection is demonstrable in infants."
The Lancet Volume 353, Number 9150 30 January 1999 Risk of diphtheria among schoolchildren in the Russian Federation in relation to time since last vaccination Quote:In 1993, the Russian Federation reported 15229 cases of diphtheria, a 25-fold increase over the 603 cases reported in 1989.1 The incidence rate among children 7-10 years of age (15·7 per 100000) was twice that of adults aged 18 years or over (7·9 per 100000).
81% of the affected children aged 7-10 years had been vaccinated with at least a primary series of diphtheria toxoid, and most had received the first booster recommended to be given 12 months after completion of the primary series.
Shimoni, Zvi; Dobrousin, Anatoly; Cohen, Jonathan; et al. "Tetanus in an Immunised Patient" British Medical Journal Online (10/16/99) Vol. 319, No. 7216, P. 1049;Israeli researchers present the case of a 34-year-old construction worker who was hospitalized after having a reported epileptic fit and experiencing flu-like symptoms. The patient had a low-grade fever, but was alert and coherent. Any attempts to speak or get up on the second day resulted in attacks of risus sardonicus, opisthotonus, and trismus. The patient was diagnosed with tetanus and given 2000 U of human tetanus immunoglobulin. Further treatment was provided, and after 15 days, the patient had stopped taking diazepam and ventilatory support was withdrawn. The man had been fully immunized against tetanus, and had received booster shots five and two years before being hospitalized.
Another reason for the fall in infectious disease rates is that diseases are classified according to vaccine status. For instance, tonsillitis and mild Diphtheria have identical symptoms: severe sore throat, swollen glands in the neck, bright red tonsils and a green/yellowish or grey discharge at the back of the throat.
With severe Diphtheria, this discoloured film is impossible to remove and it may block off the airway and cause respiratory problems. Essentially, in milder cases there is no difference between tonsillitis and Diphtheria and vaccinated patients would simply be recorded as tonsillitis. Also, doctors do not test for Diphtheria anymore so they wouldn’t know whether it was present or not, and most doctors do not know what symptoms to look for to diagnose it, so all of this would skew statistics.
TUBERCULOSIS
This is also a sanitation disease and can be caused by vaccination polluting the internal system.The vaccine doesn’t work and never has and the world’s only ever double-blind controlled trial on vaccination (BCG) in the early 1970s which proved it didn’t work. However, it took almost 30 years of administering useless vaccine to people before they stopped its use.The study stated: ‘The efficacy of the TB vaccine is 0%’ (Bulletin of the WHO, Tuberculosis Prevention Trial, 57 (5); 819-827, 1979).
Here are some other studies showing that TB vaccine causes the disease:Foster DR. Miliary tuberculosis following intravesical BCG treatment. Br J Radiol. 1997 Apr;70(832):429. No abstract available. PMID: 9166085 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Foster DR. Miliary tuberculosis: a complication of intravesical BCG treatment. Australas Radiol. 1998 May;42(2):167-8. No abstract available. PMID: 9599839 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Marrak H, et al.[A case of tuberculous lupus complicating BCG vaccination]. Tunis Med. 1991 Nov;69(11):651-4. French. No abstract available.PMID: 1808776; UI: 92230052.Magnon R, et al. [See Related Articles] Disseminated cutaneous granulomas from BCG therapy. Arch Dermatol. 1980 Mar;116(3):355. No abstract available.PMID: 7369757; UI: 80174030.Vittori F, et al. [Tuberculosis lupus after BCG vaccination. A rare complication of the vaccination].
Arch Pediatr. 1996 May;3(5):457-9. French. PMID: 8763716; UI: 96297887.According to Dr. Surinder Bakhshi, Consultant in Communicable Diseases:‘BCG, the most used vaccine in the world since it was introduced more than 50 years ago, has made no difference to TB in countries which rely solely on it to halt its spread. It has never been claimed to prevent TB, but even the evidence of its protectiveness is patchy and historical. And there have been no studies of its effectiveness in the past three decades.It may leave an ugly scar and, indeed, do more harm than good. Further, as TB, with rare exceptions, is largely a disease of the elderly in the Western world, vaccinating children doesn’t make sense.
TB in Britain is a legacy of its empire. As long as people from third world countries come and settle here, there cannot be a let-up in its spread.People who come from high prevalence countries will continue to harbour TB germs in their bodies until they die.
The World Health Organisation has set its face against vaccination and routine screening. It advocates effective disease management — early diagnosis and supervised treatment — to contain it and avoid its spread to the host community. Vaccination wastes resources, gives false hope and distracts attention from what needs to be done.’(Letter, the Sunday Times, 15 April 2001).
Isolation worked in the old days and its still one of the most effective means of preventing disease.
Other diseases like Scarlet Fever and Typhus disappeared to virtually zero without vaccination.
Measles is a disease which is mild in most cases. The figures the DOH use are from the third world, not of Western children. They also include children who have pre-existing conditions, those who are malnourished and those whose measles was treated with anti-pyretics (which is known to cause measles side-effects.
In 1967, Christine Miller from the National Institute for Medical Research, London, published a paper on measles, stating: ‘Measles is now the commonest infectious disease of childhood in the UK. It occurs in epidemics in which the total number of cases usually exceeds half a million...there is no doubt that most cases in England today are mild, only last for a short period, are not followed by complications and are rarely fatal.’
Also in the Practitioner, November 1967: ‘some physicians consider that measles is so mild a complaint that a major effort at prevention is not justified.’
After the measles vaccine was introduced in 1968, followed by the MMR in 1988, the disease suddenly became more serious. According to the BMA Complete Family Medical Encyclopaedia, 1995: ‘measles is a potentially dangerous viral illness...prevention of measles is important because it can have rare but serious complications...it is sometimes fatal in children with impaired immunity.’
Clearly, you can see vaccine marketing techniques at play here.
According to the DOH, in their book ‘Immunisation Against Infectious Diseases’,‘Before 1988 (when the MMR was introduced) more than half the acute measles deaths occurred in previously healthy children who had not been immunised.’ They quote the study C L MILLER. Deaths from measles in England and Wales, 1970-83. British Medical Journal, Vol 290, 9 February 1985, but if you actually read this study (which they are relying on parents not doing), you will find it actually says:
‘No attempt was made to establish further clinical details, vaccination history, or social class.’ - i.e. they didn’t know the vaccine status of the individuals. And: ‘90% of deaths in those previously normal occurred in those over the age of 15 months, when the vaccines are usually given’. These children were probably vaccinated prior to dying of measles as they were of vaccination age.
Nearly half the children who died were ‘grossly physically or mentally abnormal or both. The pre-existing conditions in the 126 previously abnormal individuals included cerebral palsy (24), mental retardation (20), Down's syndrome (19) and various congenital abnormalities (22). There were nine children with immune deficiency or immunosuppression, and 19 aged 2-8 with lymphatic leukaemia, a number of them in remission.’
In normal healthy children whose measles has not been treated with anti-pyretics, and whom are well nourished, I would say measles is a good thing.
Diseases of childhood are there for a reason. They release toxins from the body, they mature the child’s developing immune system, which is why they occur in childhood.
According to Jayne Donegan, a medical GP, “our immune system had matured and developed purely because of catching the diseases we are trying to eradicate.
In my opinion, normal childhood diseases are basically good for us. They teach our immune system what is "us" and what is foreign.
All our childhood diseases were killers when they first came along. They wiped out thousands because we had no natural immunity against them. Diseases infect us and, in turn, strengthen our immune system.
I vaccinated both my children with the MMR jab, but this was before I started my research into the problems associated with it.”
Often, when a child has had a childhood disease such as Chickenpox or Measles, they will pass more developmental milestones such as suddenly beginning to read, or learning new words, and any existing problems seem to reverse after a bout of measles (for instance, asthmatics suddenly recover).
My own daughter had measles as a toddler and was not ill again for more than a year afterwards, not even with a cold. I believe this was because measles was a strengthening milestone for her.
In the case of tetanus, unlike other childhood diseases, it isn’t possible to gain natural immunity to tetanus. If you’ve had it once, you can have it again. The body does not produce antibodies to Clostridium Tetani. Vaccination is the act of injecting a viral or bacterial substance into the body to make it produce antibodies to that disease. However, since no natural antibodies can be made, then there is no possible way that artificial antibodies could be made either. If the disease cannot give you protection, then how can a vaccine? It is likely that any raised antibody level seen after vaccination is the result of adjuvants (toxic heavy metals which are added to increase the body’s antibody response). In the case of tetanus vaccine, this substance is aluminium.
Antibodies themselves are not an indication of immunity – this is just one function, which is vastly different from whole body immunity.
According to Vieira et al: ‘This minimal protective antibody level is an arbitrary one and is not a guarantee of security for the individual patient.’ (Vieira, B.l.; Dunne, J.W.; Summers, Q.; Cephalic tetanus in an immunized patient. Med J Austr. 1986; 145: 156-7).
Herd Immunity Theory
The herd immunity theory was originally coined in 1933 by a researcher called Hedrich. He had been studying measles patterns in the US between 1900-1931 (years before any vaccine was ever invented for measles) and he observed that epidemics of the illness only occurred when less than 68% of children had developed a natural immunity to it. This was based upon the principle that children build their own immunity after suffering with or being exposed to the disease. So the herd immunity theory was, in fact, about natural disease processes and nothing to do with vaccination. If 68% of the population were allowed to build their own natural defences, there would be no raging epidemic.
Later on, vaccinologists adopted the phrase and increased the figure from 68% to 95% with no scientific justification as to why, and then stated that there had to be 95% vaccine coverage to achieve immunity. Essentially, they took Hedrich’s study and manipulated it to promote their vaccination programmes.
If vaccination really immunises, then your vaccinated child will be immunised and therefore protected against any disease an unvaccinated child gets. If he isn’t, his shots didn’t work.
It is widely known that even those antibodies caused by tetanus vaccine adjuvants will wane or disappear completely within 5 to 10 years. That is why children have a pre-school ‘booster’ at 4 years old, despite being vaccinated 3 or more times as a baby, and why it is repeated again at 15, and in some countries, at 12. It is estimated that over 50% of the adult population is not up to date on their tetanus vaccination and therefore, unvaccinated. If it was truly vaccination that was keeping tetanus rates low, then why are there not dozens more cases of tetanus with all these adults running around? It certainly isn’t in line with their herd immunity theory, where they assert 95% of people have to be ‘immunised’ or it won’t work.
Here are a number of studies of disease occurring in the vaccinated:
Bentsi-Enchill AD, et al. Estimates of the effectiveness of a whole-cell pertussis vaccine from an outbreak in an immunized population. Vaccine. 1997 Feb;15(3):301-6. PMID: 9139490; UI: 97227584.
D. C. Christie, et al., "The 1993 Epidemic of Pertussis in Cincinnati: Resurgence of Disease in a Highly Immunized Population of Children," New England Journal of Medicine (July 7, 1994), pp. 16-20.MMWR November 05, 1993 / 42(43);840-841,847 Diphtheria Outbreak -- Russian Federation, 1990-1993 Despite high levels of vaccination coverage against diphtheria, an ongoing outbreak of diphtheria has affected parts of the Russian Federation since 1990 (1); as of August 31, 1993, 12,865 cases had been reported. This report summarizes epidemiologic information about this outbreak for January 1990- August 1993, and is based on reports from public health officials in the Russian Federation.
Shimoni, Zvi; Dobrousin, Anatoly; Cohen, Jonathan; et al. "Tetanus in an Immunised Patient" British Medical Journal Online (10/16/99) Vol. 319, No. 7216, P. 1049;
Rev. Soc. Bras. Med. Trop., vol. 28, no. 4, Oct-Dec 1995, pp. 339-43 "Clinical and epidemiological findings during a measles outbreak occurring in a population with a high vaccination coverage" : "The history of previous vaccination [in very early childhood] did not diminish the number of complications of the cases studied. The results of this work show changes in age distribution of measles leading to sizeable outbreaks among teenagers and young adults."Clin. Invest. Med., vol. 11, no. 4, August 1988, pp. 304-9: "Measles serodiagnosis during an outbreak in a vaccinated community" ( from a group of 30 measles-sufferers displaying IgM antibodies during the acute phase of illness, 17 had been vaccinated for measles. All 17 experienced measles again, showing IgM antibodies indicating acute infection. "A history of prior vaccination is not always associated with immunity nor with the presence of specific antibodies."Aaby P, et al. (1990) Measles incidence, vaccine efficacy, and mortality in two urban African areas with high vaccination coverage. J Infect Dis. 1990 Nov;162(5):1043-8. PMID: 2230232; UI: 91037153.
Boulianne N, et al.(1991) [Major measles epidemic in the region of Quebec despite a 99% vaccine coverage]. Can J Public Health. 1991 May-Jun;82(3):189-90. French. PMID: 1884314; UI: 91356447.
All vaccination does is alter the expression of diseases and weaken our immune systems because we don’t have as much opportunity to experience the wild disease. Whilst we have less infectious (self-limiting) illness, we have more chronic (long-term) illness.
1 in 3 people now have cancer. This figure is INSANE. Back in the 18th century, cancer was virtually unheard of. Meningitis was extremely rare, now many more children get it. So many people are puffing on ventolin inhalers, with allergies to nuts and strawberries and everything else. Many people have weird skin conditions, and there are dozens more auto-immune diseases than there were before vaccination, like HIV, Lupus, MS.
According to Oxford University, 1 in 58 children is autistic and there are more with ADHD. These are poisoning and brain damage conditions. This amounts to 2% of the population that are now brain damaged by this!
Vaccination has turned us into a nation of weaklings that cannot cope with anything. That is why scientists are trying to invent a ‘dirt’ vaccine to strengthen children’s immune systems.
With regard to the tribes people dying of diseases, they were white man diseases and we went in, invaded their home and their way of life (that they had been living for hundreds of years quite happily) and exposed them to our diseases, which obviously they had not encountered before.
With continued exposure, the disease would become less severe and the tribes people would not die in great numbers, as is the course of all disease if we are allowed to develop natural immunity. Personally I also feel that we in western society had no right to interfere in the way of life of the tribes people and we ought to be ashamed of this aspect of our history.
My website is www.novelbookshop.com and I am in the process of making a new website for Vaccination Awareness Network UK. I can take requests for subjects that people wish me to write about on my site as it has a selection of free to view vaccination articles.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Bringing up baby
Last night I forced myself to watch a new series on Channel Four called Bringing up baby. I say ‘forced’, because I knew there’d be much of it that would be emotionally harrowing and I’d rather spend my time engaged in something more productive. However, I chose to watch it because one of the people on there is someone I know and wanted to support her bravery of going into the mainstream with a concept that is so at odds with our parenting culture.
Bringing up baby is an experiment in child rearing based on three very different ways of parenting. Six families are mentored by three ‘experienced’ women who scrutinise their first three months of parenting. Each family has agreed to follow one particular method.
Method one: mentored by a woman the voice-over described as the Cruella De Ville of the parenting styles. Personally, I’d have thought that was too mild a description. Her routine, military-based approach, was popularised the 1950s, though devised in 1913 by Frederick Truby King. This style is especially suited for people who, actually, don’t really want to be parents. They want a career, wild parties and not to have a moment of their life impacted by a little creature, even if it was conceived by them.
The mentor, Claire Verity, (now there’s an irony, Claire means Light, and Verity means truth) charges families £1000 a DAY for her ‘specialist’ advice, which goes like this:
NO EYE CONTACT WITH BABY
Why? Because babies, according to her, are manipulative creatures. They’re either attention seeking or tired. She says to ignore both reasons! She’s not a mother herself and is so detached from emotion that I can’t believe people actually find comfort in her presence or treat her ideas as gospel.
She advocates four hourly feeds. I can assure you this woman doesn’t eat or drink at four hourly intervals, yet she expects a newborn baby, with the stomach the size of a raspberry, (read: empty in 20 minutes) to go for such a huge stretch of time.
This experiment by the producers of the programme, sadly, isn’t an experiment, so much as a public viewing of TORTURE. I can only hope there’ll be a massive outcry and complaints to the official broadcasting standards authority. If it was a documentary ‘exposing’ such a practice, that would be different. This is the deliberate setting up and staging of child abuse.
The babies from two families were swaddled from head to toe, a lump of rubber (a dummy) gagging them from expression, and then left ALONE for four hours outside in the cold (in a pram). This would be considered torture, bodily and psychological harm, if inflicted on an adult. HOW IS IT ALLOWED TO A NEWBORN BABY? Where are its human rights?
This practice is a pernicious influence, like a cancer, spreading mutated cells into the world of baby/child development.
The show is following these families for 3 months to see how it goes. Where will the producers be in 3 years, 30 years, when these poor babies are in care because they weren’t loved, weren’t cuddled, weren’t given eye contact…but WERE ABANDONED??? We’ll all be paying the cost for this torture and cruelty. These babies will almost certainly be dysfunctional as adults, and not capable of healthy intimate relationships.
If a dog or a cat had been similarly treated, the whole country would be up in arms. BAN THEM FROM KEEPING AN ANIMAL FOR LIFE…but no, on this show, it’s celebrated. Yahoo, the parents can sit and have a glass of wine on baby’s first night at home!
The older sibling of one of the ‘tortured’ babies said, “I want to cuddle the baby. Why can’t I cuddle the baby?” Dad replies that they’re not allowed to. There was a moment of irony when the mother of said baby started crying as she heard it SCREAMING in desperation for her over the monitor, and Claire Verity touched her arm and offered ‘comfort’. Made me want to vomit! Why was her trauma acknowledged, and not the baby’s?
This parenting ‘style’ (torture) is a second cousin to the treatment of babies in eastern European orphanages. Studies have shown that babies who are never held actually DIE from lack of touch. It’s an essential human NEED.
Any prospective parent who feels ‘inclined’ towards this way of parenting ~ do the world a favour, don’t have children! DON’T HAVE CHILDREN. Leave the creating and raising of the next generation to those people who really want and love them, and are prepared to honour their most basic needs, which include affectional bonding, love, touch, and EYE CONTACT.
A fabulous career, double ‘must have’ income, brilliant parties, should never be more important than raising a child according to its biological needs.
There’s no place for selfishness in parenting, only surrender. Let’s be clear on something though, surrender isn’t about ‘giving in’ or giving up. In this case it is about melting into parenting. It’s about recognising that mother and child are one. Surrender does not mean sacrifice. A BONDED mother would never leave her baby in a cot, give it a bottle of formula, or leave it untouched anymore than she would dictate its feeds.
A baby isn’t something to put on your cv…it is a human being with exquisitely sensitive feelings.
One of the baby’s births was shown on the programme ~ a typical western birth where babe is handled like a lump of meat i.e., roughly, with no respect for its incredible sensitivity and the shock adjustment it has to make to the world of light, gravity and unmuffled sound. The poor little soul hit a world of violence from the word go.
My husband and I sat in stunned silence, tears rolling down my cheeks. The few words that were mentioned can’t be repeated here because of the laws of libel.
Hats off to Claire Scott, the Continuum Concept mentor. Her intelligence, passion, compassion and empathy were obvious. I admired her help in getting breastfeeding established and for saying what I’m always yelling from the rooftops: BREASTFEEDING DOESN’T HURT IF IT IS DONE PROPERLY!!
I’m so grateful that wasn’t edited out in post-production!
The Continuum Concept is at the heart of The Mother magazine’s ethos. The book’s author, Jean Leidloff, lived with the Stone Age tribe, the Yequanna, in South America. Here she saw first hand how different these children were to those in the west. They rarely cried, were actively part of (and welcomed into!!) their parent’s and community’s lives. Their bodies were relaxed and the children were happy. Just before I met my husband, I’d heard about this book through a Wellness course I was doing. I’d been trying to track it down. When I met my husband, and we were moving in together, he handed me a book and said, “You might like this.” Our parenting style was sealed before we even met. We both knew that a baby’s biological needs had to be met no matter what time in history we were living in, or what the culture presented as the norm. I’m so thankful for the book, and even more thankful for having made babies with a man who ‘understood’ and has never stood in the way with ego-based jealousy. Which brings me back to Claire Verity. How is it that a woman can be so far removed from a biological instinct? I know several men who are more suited to mothering.
I can’t recommend highly enough an article we have in our current issue of The Mother magazine, by Joseph Chilton Pearce called Birth and bonding. The information on the heart’s electromagnetic field is vital information. The Truby King method is the antithesis. Joseph’s book, Magical Child, will open your eyes to how important it is that the baby is held, has eye contact and constant exposure to her mother’s face. A Truby King raised baby has none of that.
I’m delighted to announce that the magazine’s publisher, The Art of Change, will be hosting a Jean Leidloff tour to the UK in April 2008. Contact artofchange@msn.com for more information.
It’s probably no surprise the Bringing Up Baby series is sponsored by a disposable nappy company. Treat your babies like crap, and then have their crap be responsible for dioxins in a landfill for 500 years or more.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Measles and MMR jabs
The government has enlisted the media for their annual scaremongering campaign to get ill-informed parents to vaccinate. The reports are always so biased and ONE SIDED.
I'm ever so grateful that I can't be scared, bullied or intimidated into assaulting my girls' immune systems. There is no amount of money on this planet that would ever have me putting such poison into my children's bodies.
My decision to not vaccinate has always been intuitive. Yet the research I've done in the years since has left me gobsmacked by the complete veil draped across the eyes of unsuspecting parents. I'm left stunned by the inability of doctors to think for themselves. My sister sold childhood vaccines to doctors. I witnessed, first hand, an awful lot of bribery and corruption, otherwise known as 'gift incentives'. The more vaccines a doctor gives, the more s/he earns. In Australia, they even go as far as PAYING parents to vaccinate their children! Criminal, at best.
I was unvaccinated as a child. Apparently, according to the BBC news tonight, all people aged 40 and over have had measles in childhood. Er, wrong. I only had mumps. A few years back I had chickenpox.
The sheeple (people who act like sheep and don't think for themselves) will continue to vaccinate their children in the mistaken belief that the concoction of chemicals and poisons will 'immunise' them against killer diseases.
Let's clarify a few things.
Measles is not a killer disease. Children who die from measles are those who are medically 'mismanaged' during the natural course of the disease. That is, they've had their fever suppressed. Next time you hear a doctor ranting on about "I've seen a child die from measles!!" ask him to produce their immunisation record and give details on how the child was treated. That is where the answer will lie, NOT whether or not they'd been vaccinated.
You wouldn't drink a vaccine, so why on earth inject it? The first line of defence against infectious diseases is a layer of bacteria on our skin and mucus membranes. The second line is the skin and the mucus membranes themselves. Any disease that gets past these defences is branded by Immunoglobulin A. This then sets up a chain which allows Immunoglobulin G to come along and get rid of the disease. If you are healthy, NOTHING can penetrate your body. It is WRONG to bypass the skin barrier by injection.
If you do get an infection, you'll get a fever. The medical profession have ingrained parents to be scared of fevers. This is unfortunate because fevers fight the infection. A healthy body will not create a fever high enough to cause brain damage. Vomiting is a natural response to eliminating toxins.
I grew up in Australia, where sugar cane is grown. Before the canes are harvested, the fields are burnt. This is specifically to get rid of all the 'vermin' ~ snakes, toads, etc., before harvesting. A fever is the body's way of burning off the vermin!
If your child can't protect herself from infectious diseases under normal circumstances, then she is at great risk from vaccination. Vaccination doesn't give life long immunity, catching the childhood disease NATURALLY does.
Vaccination causes the body to draw calcium from itself to attach to the invading chemicals so it can neutralise the vaccine. We absolutely NEED calcium for our nervous system and muscle function. You aren't in your child's body so you have no way of knowing, or experiencing, the impact of the vaccine. Severe calcium deficiency may not be visible to you, as a parent, for many years by which time it will be far too late to rectify.
Parents are encouraged to be reassured by the government that studies prove vaccines to be safe. If this was so, then why don't they tell parents that these studies are funded by vaccine manufacturers!!?
Vaccination is a multi-billion pound industry. Of course they want us to vaccinate! And the only way they can do it is by instilling fear. Why don't they parade the thousands upon thousands of vaccine damaged (and dead) children alongside their campaigns? Surely that would be more honest?
A parent is the only barrier between a vaccine manufacturer murdering or physically damaging their child. A parent is responsible for their child's health, NOT the government. Do you really think your child will grow and up thank you for poisoning them?
Media energy around vaccination is a major act of bullying. It's not acceptable in the playground, so why do we allow it in the area of children's health?
We're told that vaccination programmes eliminate diseases. There is NO proof of this in any country of the world. All childhood diseases are cyclical and this has nothing whatsoever to do with vaccines or their efficacy.
Many of the adverse reactions to disease fall outside the Government's allotted time frame and they refuse to record them, thereby giving inaccurate outcomes. The vast majority of vaccine-damaged children don't get reported by the doctors.
In the USA thousands and thousands of parents are sueing for vaccine damage to their children, yet vaccinations continue. Are humans stupid, or what?
It's only when you decide to explore and research vaccinations (and please don't call them immunisations, because they don't immunise) that you see how skewed the studies are; how the biggest outbreaks occur in the most heavily vaccinated areas!
If you are one of those people who believe in the theory of herd immunity, I can't recommend highly enough the article we had recently in The Mother. Common sense would tell you that if a vaccine protects from disease, then an unvaccinated child is INCAPABLE of spreading disease.
Vaccinations are a frightening area to dip your toes into for the sole reason that the sheeple have been led to believe vaccinations are sacred and life saving. When you see the truth for yourself, read the research, see the facts, all you can do is hang your head in shock, shame and anger at the deliberate misinformation. The vaccines are far more dangerous than any childhood illness.
I, for one, am happy that my children will act as 'guinea pigs' showing what excellent health really looks like.
We build up our children's immune systems primarily by raising them in a space of love. If they feel good about themselves, rather than belittled, shamed or constantly threatened, they grow like weeds ~ strong, healthy, unstoppable.
Sustained breastfeeding is a lifelong investment, one that is sadly not recognised or endorsed in western countries. It's the only TRUE immuniser. Formula is dead, static and synthetic. It does not, and can not, build your child's immune system. It can not track the environment for pathogens to protect the child like a mother's body does. Her body is constantly scanning the environment in order to provide 'immunisation' in her milk.
Children need to eat fresh, raw fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts on a daily basis. The government's 'five a day' is only half of what the body should have. I shake my head in disgust when I see adverts for things like baked beans or fruit cordial saying, 'counts towards your five a day'. IT DOESN'T!!! Your body needs fresh, that is, uncooked, unfrozen, untinned!!!, fruit and vegetables.
Children must have plenty of rest and sleep. Our 24/7 entertainment society has insidiously crept into children's lives too, with the vast majority of western kids glued to televisual stimulus of some sort. Electromagnetic radiation from mobiles, computers, tvs, wifi…all add to the soup of ill-health. Think twice before you buy into the idea that your children need all these things to be part of society.
All humans need clean, pure, living water. Is your child drinking 6 - 8 glasses of water a day and eating plenty of water-rich food?
If you're concerned about your child getting measles, make them a fresh carrot juice every day (not shop bought juice as it is pasteurised, thereby killing the enzymes) to boost their vitamin a levels. Children who get measles have been found to have low levels of vitamin a.
If your child gets measles, don't panic if there is a fever. The body knows what it is doing. Each degree rise in temperature DOUBLES the rate and production of leucocytes. Nature knows what she is doing. Avoid antibiotics as they stop the immune system functioning optimally and strip the gut of vitamin k. Convulsions are not due to high temperature but from the rapid rise in temperature.
According to the World Health Organisation vaccinated people are FOURTEEN times more likely to contract measles that those who haven't been vaccinated.
Vaccinations are social violence against our children.
Vaccine ingredients ~ would you drink this?
Formaldehyde, mercury or #6 pheno-oxyethanol
Aluminium
Paint thinner
Coolant
Anti-freeze
Dye
Detergent
Phenols
Solvent
Borax
Disinfectant
MSG
Glycerol
Sulfite and phosphate compounds
Polysorbate 80/20
Sorbitol
Polyribosylribitol
Betapropiolactone
Amphotericin b and other chemicals
Hydrolozed gelatine
Casein
Dead animal tissue and blood (eg cow, chick, human embryo (from aborted babies), monkey, sheep, pig, dog, etc)
Mutated human viruses
Contaminant animal viruses
(eg SV40 which causes cancer in humans)
Bacteria and bacterial endotoxins
Antibiotics
Yeast and animal bacterial and viral DNA (which can be incorporated into the recipient's DNA)
For the side effects of formaldehyde and mercury, contact the poisons centre for a complete list.
No self respecting vegan or vegetarian would choose vaccination.
I know many parents feel the decision whether to vaccinate or not is a tough decision. I don’t see why that would be so. You either believe a poison is going to make you strong and healthy, or you don't. Trust your gut, not the government. The answers are within you. Don't be drawn into system out of fear.
If you're new to the idea that you actually have a choice regarding the vaccination of your children, and would like more information please contact the Vaccination Awareness Network. (contact details are on The Mother magazine website www.themothermagazine.co.uk It's run by one of The Mother magazine's columnists ~ Joanna Karpasea Jones. She writes a regular column for us on vaccination awareness. In issue 24 (posted out to subscribers next week) she shares how vaccination programmes are being used universally to 'control' population growth. It's quite something, isn't it, to think our daughters may be DELIBERATELY rendered infertile through 'every day' vaccinations!?
In issue 25, due out early November, Joanna has a column questioning MMR.
I don't know of any other natural parenting magazines that are 100% opposed to vaccinations. All the ones I come across, sit on the fence for fear of offending someone (that old chestnut!). These are our children we're talking about! There's no time or reason to be offended. The truth must come out. Parents must be fully informed.
Friday, August 24, 2007
VIOLENT TEENAGERS
Today's cuppa: Peace Tea (ingredients: love, kindness and awareness)
Another boy has been shot by a teenager… it's becoming a regular news item here in the UK.
People (especially our ever-so-wise politicians) talk about tougher gun laws, stronger education, getting male role models for fatherless boys…but this is all so much ambulance at the bottom of the cliff talk.
Why is it so impossible for people to CONNECT THE DOTS? Really, it does my head in that there is such complete ignorance, at the highest levels of psychology, neuro-biology and medicine, in relation to violence and teenagers (and adults).
We're all born with biological needs which must be met if we're to develop optimally. Many of these needs are immediately met through breastfeeding, as the rich biochemical nutrients are vital for developing the neuro-transmitters which develop our capacity towards peace or violence. FORMULA DOESN'T CONTAIN THIS.
The more technologically advanced our society becomes, the further we seem to move away from our biological needs. There is always a price for doing so. And boy are we seeing the price for the child neglect and abuse which is happening DAILY on a massive scale.
We are inflicting violence on our children from the earliest age ~ even in-utero, with invasive tests and scans (which essentially microwave the baby's cells!!).
Many babies today are born by very violent means: suction, forceps or scalpel. Many c-sections babies even get cut. Modern babies are handled roughly, like lumps of meat, rather than souls who've just arrived Earthside in exquisitely-sensitive bodies.
Further violence, and it IS A VIOLATION to this sacred babe ~ and the mother, occurs when the baby is removed from the mother for routine and other testing. And more violence occurs when the baby isn't immediately put to the breast.
Violence continues throughout childhood in various forms ~ stuck in a prison called a 'cradle'; left to stare at a ceiling, rather than held by mother; left to cry; dummy as a replacement for non-nutritive sucking at the breast; left with strangers in day care; sent to nursery at three (at 3 for goodness' sake!); given dead, lifeless, processed food and drink (especially formula); compulsory, enforced learning before the first milk teeth have fallen out…and so it goes on and on. Of course, very few people would even consider any of these to be violence because we've become so indoctrinated with this as being 'normal'.
Eventually all this violence has to find an outlet. The baby grows into the toddler into the child into the teenager… Some of these children deal with their hurts in other ways ~ various dysfunctions, such as depression, eating disorders, a tendency towards suicide; addiction to televisual technology and consumerism. Some of our violently abused children will direct this hurt at themselves, and some will turn. They'll turn with a gun, a knife or other tool. But turn, they will. At no other time in our history have adults been scared of teenagers on the streets.
We need everyone to start connecting the dots……………………….
Find me one abusive, dangerous, tormented soul who had a gentle birth and was fully breastfed by an affectionate, loving mother, who carried and slept with her baby, and I'll shut my mouth forever ~ honest ~ not one more blog, not one more magazine.
I can guarantee that all the people who are committing violence against others, and themselves, had a violent birth, little or no breastfeeding (or weaned by mother before 2.5 years), and were deprived of an active in-arms experience with their mother.
So let's stop all this bullshit about tighter gun laws...we wouldn't even desire guns or to inflict violence if we weren't shot in the heart when we left our mother's womb!
Girl Gangs
Today's cuppa: Elderberry Tea
There was talk in the media this week of a rise in girl gangs. I thought I'd share about the Girl Gang in our village.
It consists of my two daughters and a friend who lives a few houses away. They chant 'girl pack club' and make notices for the bus shelter saying "dog walkers available ~ dogs must be little and not aggressive! £1.50 per dog."
They hatch plans to do all sorts of things, but mostly they get out their rollerblades (found in the animal rescue shop for £2 a pair!), play in their club house (a space under the pine trees, covered with some corrugated iron, making it suitable even in a wet British summer!). The girls in the gang have a busy life foraging for fruit, having a sleep over, playing dolls, making decorative mud pies, riding bikes.
One of the main things I've noticed with this gang is that they laugh and laugh and laugh! Music to this mother's ears…
Captured Sunlight
Today's cuppa: Rosehip and apple tea
A 'toast' to my boyfriend...who's 59 today! (25th August) I love you, Paul ~ you've made my life. The Universe couldn't have conjured me up a better husband! And happy birthday to my lovely friend, Amy, in Panama City...breastfeeding her beautiful new (VBAC) daughter, Isabella.
Only a week until the little ladies are back at school. If I could sum up this summer in two words, apart from 'crap weather', it would be 'captured sunlight'.
There can't have been more than a day or two that's passed without the girls foraging. They've eaten their way through strawberries, gooseberries, apples, raspberries, black currants, blackberries, wild cherries ~ not to mention stripping my pea plants bare. It's all I can do to keep them off my ripening blueberry bushes!
They've always been little fruit bats, but it still gives me such a kick to see them devour man's natural foods. Both of them will literally stand at a bush of fruit for hours, nibbling away. They have no need to coat these fruits in sugar, bake them in a pie, turn them into cordial or boil into jam… My girls eat fruit raw, ripe and fresh, just as nature intended.
I've seen many mothers who have a fear of their children eating 'real fruit'. "Oh, no, she'll get a sore tummy. All that fruit's not good for you."
"WHAAAAAT??"
It's not surprising that people get sore tummies, but let's be clear here ~ it's not the fault of the fruit!
Fruit likes to be eaten on its own. Look at the average western diet and see how fruit is consumed. Many people consider it a dessert and usually eat it after a heavy carb-based meal. Fruit, on any empty tummy, takes 20 minutes to digest, like breast milk. If you eat it with steak or bread, it is going to ferment in the tummy! It's no wonder the body reacts! Give a body fresh, raw, ripe fruit on an empty tummy and it will literally dance with joy. "WOW…at last, enzymes! Unprocessed vitamins and minerals!" Can't you just hear your cells dancing?
The beauty of freshly ripened fruit is that it is, literally, captured sunlight. And it is this sunlight, these stored electrons, which gives us a zest for life.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Saturn in the 5th house ~ learning life's lessons in the house of children.
Today's cuppa: Lime and elderflower tea
I'm researching for a book I wish to write about the impact of having the planet Saturn in the 5th house.
In astrology, the 12 houses are considered to be mansions of the soul. The planet which is transiting through it at the time of your birth, brings energy or lessons with it.
Saturn is considered to be Father Time, or some say, the Lord of Karma. However you choose to look at it, this planet certainly brings *interesting* learning opportunities. The fifth house represents children, creativity and love affairs.
My focus, for the book, is specifically on children.
Having Saturn in this house can manifest in many ways. Ancient astrologers used to say that if a woman had Saturn in this house, it meant she couldn't have children. Later on they said that if she did have children, she'd be a bad mother (ouch!!). I know in my life it manifests by finding it REALLY hard to sit down and 'play dolls'!! (LOL)
I have Saturn in my 5th house ~ and am interested in how it plays out in other women's lives. My grandmother's saturn in the 5th manifested with three children dying in infancy (during the war years).
Clearly my life's work is around children, and it plays out not only in the passion I have for my own children being raised optimally, but also through creating The Mother magazine.
Saturn in the 5th house can manifest in so many ways, such as infertility (usually it has psychological, rather than physical, reasons), repeated miscarriages, stillbirth, death of a child/children in infancy....generally, 'difficulties' around children. I want to show that it isn't always like this, and can manifest in other ways too.
Lest it sound all doom and gloom, it needn't be....and that is the point I wish to make in my book... how we can take these lessons and *prune* our essential self to blossom fully, rather than be crushed and heartbroken.
I believe Saturn is our life coach....he's here to test our spiritual muscles, so to speak. Many people who dabble in astrology fear Saturn. It's a shame, and I certainly believe that the more you fear something, the more painful a hold it has on you. My goal in writing this book is to show how we can genuinely befriend Saturn and use this natal placement to our advantage and JOY.
If you have Saturn in the 5th and would be happy to contribute your experiences, please do contact me via The Mother website. If you suspect you might have it there, but are not sure, you can google Astrodienst and get a free chart done. You'll need an accurate time of birth.
Or I can look into it for you.
Please be assured all correspondence is strictly confidential, and if you do decide to be a 'case study' in the book, names will be changed to protect privacy.
Best wishes, Veronika
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Inducing guilt in bottle feeding mothers
Today's cuppa: Echinacea tea (and a few cinnamon cookies I made yesterday!)
I was watching William, our chubby short-haired Persian, sitting outside in the rain this morning being attacked by swallows. They flew down, one at a time, right down to his ear height. William thought it was a wonderful game; tail wagging, paw up. He had no idea that he was an enemy in their environment.
I mused that his circumstance wasn't much different to mine. When you go into someone else's space, you risk everything and are open to criticism. I enter that space every time I write a blog or put out an issue of The Mother magazine.
This past week, or so, has opened up the breastfeeding debate once again ~ thankfully. Unfortunately, with it comes a load of incorrect information, even, and especially, from the very organisations we rely on to educate!
The chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, Belinda Phipps, wrote to The Times stating that they support a woman's 'choice' whether to breastfeed or bottle feed. You simply can not promote natural childbirth without educating about the importance of breastfeeding. As soon as we take a stance like that of the NCT, we're effectively saying 'there's no difference between breast milk and formula.' We're not talking about choosing between coke and pepsi, for goodness sake! Though coke and freshly squeezed orange juice might be a better analogy ~ one being dead, artificial and a path to death, the other being fresh, life-giving and packed with enzymes.
Nobody EVER talks about the baby's rights, you know, that little dependent creature who's forced to drink that toxic concoction of 'formula'. Every baby born on this planet has encoded into every cell of their being, the BIOLOGICAL EXPECTATION to breastfeed for anything up to about the time the milk teeth fall out. EVERY BABY!
Isn't it child abuse on the grandest scale to deny them this
Firstly, NO-ONE but no-one can *make* you feel anything. The choice is always with you as to how you perceive or respond to an issue.
Secondly, guilt is not a feeling, it's a thought. We may feel sick in the stomach, chew our nails, eat a donut to get rid of emotional discomfort, but they are secondary responses. Guilt comes from 'knowing' we're compromising the optimum. It's a biological response to show us we're 'off the path'. Guilt is a fabulous thing when we listen to it, rather than suppress it.
Is it so awful (honestly??) for us to remind women that they've put their child in danger? Not to mention the woman's own health and increased risk from breast, ovarian and cervical cancers?
Is it so bad to remind women that true mothering means meeting every one of your baby's biological needs? How on Earth do we create change if we don't speak up?
People assume that the breastfeeding brigade is a bunch of sanctimonious trouble makers. I would say that they are women who are speaking from a place of love. It is love that brings us to action, that causes us to speak out. It's love for the woman and baby. It's love for all of humanity. One bottle fed baby affects everyone.
Personally, guilt would overcome me if I kept my mouth shut every time I heard a breastfeeding myth. Guilt would tell me that I'm not living my truth, walking my talk, or being authentic if I just smiled and said, 'there, there, never mind, it's a CHOICE'.
It's easy to target someone like Jordan for blatantly promoting bottle feeding. The truly sad part is that she doesn't feel she's severely compromising her children. It appears she gives no thought to the impact her disposable bottles have on the environment. Yes, as someone commented on last week's blog, she IS a victim too. It breaks my heart that she hasn't bonded with her baby or the planet. What hope is there for her children when they become parents?
I was watching William, our chubby short-haired Persian, sitting outside in the rain this morning being attacked by swallows. They flew down, one at a time, right down to his ear height. William thought it was a wonderful game; tail wagging, paw up. He had no idea that he was an enemy in their environment.
I mused that his circumstance wasn't much different to mine. When you go into someone else's space, you risk everything and are open to criticism. I enter that space every time I write a blog or put out an issue of The Mother magazine.
This past week, or so, has opened up the breastfeeding debate once again ~ thankfully. Unfortunately, with it comes a load of incorrect information, even, and especially, from the very organisations we rely on to educate!
The chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, Belinda Phipps, wrote to The Times stating that they support a woman's 'choice' whether to breastfeed or bottle feed. You simply can not promote natural childbirth without educating about the importance of breastfeeding. As soon as we take a stance like that of the NCT, we're effectively saying 'there's no difference between breast milk and formula.' We're not talking about choosing between coke and pepsi, for goodness sake! Though coke and freshly squeezed orange juice might be a better analogy ~ one being dead, artificial and a path to death, the other being fresh, life-giving and packed with enzymes.
Nobody EVER talks about the baby's rights, you know, that little dependent creature who's forced to drink that toxic concoction of 'formula'. Every baby born on this planet has encoded into every cell of their being, the BIOLOGICAL EXPECTATION to breastfeed for anything up to about the time the milk teeth fall out. EVERY BABY!
Isn't it child abuse on the grandest scale to deny them this
because a mother can't be 'bothered'?
Imagine 50 billion dominoes all lined up, ready to be knocked over in order. Our neurons are like this… we wait for the right developmental need to be met, and bang, another 'domino' goes over ~ a 'connection' is made in the neural pathways. When we 'CHOOSE' a counterfeit milk, the dominoes don't get knocked over. When we choose to forgo the bonding which is specific to feeding at the breast, we are denying our child more than just their birth right. We're compromising their life-long physical health, emotional well-being, neuro-psychological function and healthy sexuality. When the cued dominoes don't fall over during the baby/child's expected developmental stage, they don't EVER get the chance for that to happen again. They may spend their adult life looking for quick fixes to sort out an aching emptiness which pervades their being.
Imagine 50 billion dominoes all lined up, ready to be knocked over in order. Our neurons are like this… we wait for the right developmental need to be met, and bang, another 'domino' goes over ~ a 'connection' is made in the neural pathways. When we 'CHOOSE' a counterfeit milk, the dominoes don't get knocked over. When we choose to forgo the bonding which is specific to feeding at the breast, we are denying our child more than just their birth right. We're compromising their life-long physical health, emotional well-being, neuro-psychological function and healthy sexuality. When the cued dominoes don't fall over during the baby/child's expected developmental stage, they don't EVER get the chance for that to happen again. They may spend their adult life looking for quick fixes to sort out an aching emptiness which pervades their being.
Every hour of every day is important in the great biological plan of the human body.
In a few short generations we've deviated from our biological expectations. In a few short generations, cultures which rely on formula have become very ill and very dysfunctional. But it's a *choice*, though. It's become the norm for most people to survive, rather than thrive. When just about everybody is tootling along in first gear, rather than fifth, the culture thinks this is 'natural'.
Let's follow this through, though, because at the end of the day someone has to PAY for these choices. Not only will the person raised on formula have to pay with poorer vision, intelligence, hearing, well-being (the list is endless!), but society pays, and the Earth most certainly pays. Will breastfeeding mothers be able to CHOOSE not to contribute taxes to the National Health Service on the grounds that they took full responsibility for their child's health? That would bring 'choice' full circle. It might sound selfish, indeed, even a radical thought, but at the rate we're going, it might become an option. It would truly be a user pays service.
Our culture supports abortion ~ leaving it up to the woman whether she takes the child's life or not. Although socially accepted, does it make it any less of a child killing? Rather than support women in these circumstances, or ideally, show them how not to create unwanted pregnancies, we give them the 'choice'.
Breastfeeding is viewed in the same way. People are scared to speak up. If women want to choose bottle feeding over breastfeeding, I believe they should sign a disclaimer acknowledging the harm they're putting their baby in…and promising to take full responsibility for the outcome, even if it manifests decades later in depression, adrenal issues, heart problems, suicide, violence, etc., or reproductive organ cancers in the mother.
Another letter to The Times claimed that, as she was an adoptive mother, she had no choice but to bottle feed. This is simply another myth. A woman choosing to adopt a baby can induce lactation. This sort of information should be given out by adoption agencies.
The best letter by far was from Alison Blenkinsop who wrote that formula isn't second best, expressed milk from the mother is, and third best is donated breast milk. I'm so glad The Times published that!
Ours is a culture that really doesn't want women like me to speak up and dispel myths. The myths keep everyone inertia ~ and stop them from taking action and responsibility, not only for their own health, but for the baby's health, and the effect on society and the environment.
So, I feel a bit like William with the swallows some times. Little arrows fly at me telling me to 'shut up, get out of our space'. Frankly, though, it's not enough for me to write or publish articles just in The Mother magazine. For the most part, it's preaching to the converted. Nothing wrong with that, of course, as we might just reach 100th monkey syndrome and create a breastfeeding revolution.
One of the most common things which come out of any breastfeeding conversation is that we mustn't make bottle feeding mothers feel guilty.
In a few short generations we've deviated from our biological expectations. In a few short generations, cultures which rely on formula have become very ill and very dysfunctional. But it's a *choice*, though. It's become the norm for most people to survive, rather than thrive. When just about everybody is tootling along in first gear, rather than fifth, the culture thinks this is 'natural'.
Let's follow this through, though, because at the end of the day someone has to PAY for these choices. Not only will the person raised on formula have to pay with poorer vision, intelligence, hearing, well-being (the list is endless!), but society pays, and the Earth most certainly pays. Will breastfeeding mothers be able to CHOOSE not to contribute taxes to the National Health Service on the grounds that they took full responsibility for their child's health? That would bring 'choice' full circle. It might sound selfish, indeed, even a radical thought, but at the rate we're going, it might become an option. It would truly be a user pays service.
Our culture supports abortion ~ leaving it up to the woman whether she takes the child's life or not. Although socially accepted, does it make it any less of a child killing? Rather than support women in these circumstances, or ideally, show them how not to create unwanted pregnancies, we give them the 'choice'.
Breastfeeding is viewed in the same way. People are scared to speak up. If women want to choose bottle feeding over breastfeeding, I believe they should sign a disclaimer acknowledging the harm they're putting their baby in…and promising to take full responsibility for the outcome, even if it manifests decades later in depression, adrenal issues, heart problems, suicide, violence, etc., or reproductive organ cancers in the mother.
Another letter to The Times claimed that, as she was an adoptive mother, she had no choice but to bottle feed. This is simply another myth. A woman choosing to adopt a baby can induce lactation. This sort of information should be given out by adoption agencies.
The best letter by far was from Alison Blenkinsop who wrote that formula isn't second best, expressed milk from the mother is, and third best is donated breast milk. I'm so glad The Times published that!
Ours is a culture that really doesn't want women like me to speak up and dispel myths. The myths keep everyone inertia ~ and stop them from taking action and responsibility, not only for their own health, but for the baby's health, and the effect on society and the environment.
So, I feel a bit like William with the swallows some times. Little arrows fly at me telling me to 'shut up, get out of our space'. Frankly, though, it's not enough for me to write or publish articles just in The Mother magazine. For the most part, it's preaching to the converted. Nothing wrong with that, of course, as we might just reach 100th monkey syndrome and create a breastfeeding revolution.
One of the most common things which come out of any breastfeeding conversation is that we mustn't make bottle feeding mothers feel guilty.
Firstly, NO-ONE but no-one can *make* you feel anything. The choice is always with you as to how you perceive or respond to an issue.
Secondly, guilt is not a feeling, it's a thought. We may feel sick in the stomach, chew our nails, eat a donut to get rid of emotional discomfort, but they are secondary responses. Guilt comes from 'knowing' we're compromising the optimum. It's a biological response to show us we're 'off the path'. Guilt is a fabulous thing when we listen to it, rather than suppress it.
Is it so awful (honestly??) for us to remind women that they've put their child in danger? Not to mention the woman's own health and increased risk from breast, ovarian and cervical cancers?
If you saw a child walking across the motorway about to be knocked over would you just stand there and do nothing? Bottlefeeding is no different! Death may not be so immediate, but the consequences can be just as devastating.
Is it so bad to remind women that true mothering means meeting every one of your baby's biological needs? How on Earth do we create change if we don't speak up?
People assume that the breastfeeding brigade is a bunch of sanctimonious trouble makers. I would say that they are women who are speaking from a place of love. It is love that brings us to action, that causes us to speak out. It's love for the woman and baby. It's love for all of humanity. One bottle fed baby affects everyone.
Personally, guilt would overcome me if I kept my mouth shut every time I heard a breastfeeding myth. Guilt would tell me that I'm not living my truth, walking my talk, or being authentic if I just smiled and said, 'there, there, never mind, it's a CHOICE'.
It's easy to target someone like Jordan for blatantly promoting bottle feeding. The truly sad part is that she doesn't feel she's severely compromising her children. It appears she gives no thought to the impact her disposable bottles have on the environment. Yes, as someone commented on last week's blog, she IS a victim too. It breaks my heart that she hasn't bonded with her baby or the planet. What hope is there for her children when they become parents?
I don’t feel, however, that I do anything to promote breast feeding by ignoring a situation like this. Sometimes we need examples to show how far off the mothering continuum some people go. She's very deliberately chosen to be in the public eye ~ and particularly, in this case, to promote her infant formula views. So, in some ways, she too is like William the cat!! (Fancy Jordan and I having something in common!!) Little arrows are coming to her from all directions. Sadly, though, like William, she probably thinks it's a game too.
There'll be women reading this who believe, hand on heart, that they really couldn't breastfeed. I have the utmost empathy for you. Any woman who still has intact breasts CAN breastfeed. One of the biggest myths in western culture is that of insufficient milk syndrome. The proportion of women who claim to not have enough milk rises in response to the availability of infant formula in their culture. End of story.
There will be other women who'll say they had to stop because they had sore nipples, mastitis [put in just about any reason here, apart from extreme illness or death]… It's very unfortunate that any of these things afflict breastfeeding women, but it is even more unfortunate that these challenges become reasons to stop. This issue is never about the 'problem', but about the incorrect support or information.
Even a high circulation 'natural parenting' magazine in the UK is continuing to print inappropriate breastfeeding advice. It's a vicious circle and I'm not surprised that women give up so easily.
Does that mean I should shut up and say "it's a woman's choice to bottle feed?"
There'll be women reading this who believe, hand on heart, that they really couldn't breastfeed. I have the utmost empathy for you. Any woman who still has intact breasts CAN breastfeed. One of the biggest myths in western culture is that of insufficient milk syndrome. The proportion of women who claim to not have enough milk rises in response to the availability of infant formula in their culture. End of story.
There will be other women who'll say they had to stop because they had sore nipples, mastitis [put in just about any reason here, apart from extreme illness or death]… It's very unfortunate that any of these things afflict breastfeeding women, but it is even more unfortunate that these challenges become reasons to stop. This issue is never about the 'problem', but about the incorrect support or information.
Even a high circulation 'natural parenting' magazine in the UK is continuing to print inappropriate breastfeeding advice. It's a vicious circle and I'm not surprised that women give up so easily.
Does that mean I should shut up and say "it's a woman's choice to bottle feed?"
Not on their little baby's life!
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
THE GREAT MOTHERING DISCONNECT ~ a sign of our dysfunctional culture
Today's cuppa: Lemon grass and ginger ~ especially for my gorgeous friend Ruth in Cornwall. Happy birthday syster (for August 8th)
OK! magazine and SMA, makers of counterfeit milk, should be utterly ashamed of themselves for such unethical profiteering by using Jordan to promote the use of their fake milk.
I've not seen the photo spread but have had enough emails from concerned mothers to know it features her new baby with a diamond encrusted dummy and very obvious images of SMA products in the pictures. Had Jordan asked her baby what she'd prefer, there's no question the little girl would indicate 'breast'. But the wee little lass never got the chance. You see, Jordan doesn't believe in breastfeeding. She's made it quite clear in the past that breasts are purely for a man's pleasure and not for something as primal as, OMG, breast feeding!
Clearly Jordan has no idea of how SEVERELY compromised babies are when raised on fake milk ( physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually), and is in no position to even begin to talk about infant nutrition, but, as usual, she's given ample media space to spout her uninformed views, thereby influencing countless others who take her word as gospel. If she thinks there's no difference between breast milk and the lifeless and deadly crap which comes in a can, then how many ignorant families will follow this belief? Sadly, far too many.
The tragedy is she wears the undeserved title of celebrity and is seen as a role model by million of girls. But what's there to celebrate? She's completely disconnected from the act and art of mothering. Is this what we want a generation of teenage girls to learn? SERIOUSLY?
First she plans to have her baby cut out of her...you know, it's that old thing of keeping the *honeymoon vagina*, and then she shoves plastic into the baby's mouth…no, not mum's plastic boobs, but a plastic bottle and dummy. Diamond encrusted or otherwise, it takes 450 years for a dummy to decompose. Do you know how many dummies are required for the millions and millions and millions of babies who aren't comforted at mother's breast? The average bottle fed baby has about six bottles, not to mention all the accessories which go with it… In the UK alone, 200 000 babies are born each year who never even taste breast milk. Out of the 400 000 babies breastfed, only half of those will remain on the breast past two weeks of age. That's an awful lot of pollution and waste ending up in landfills. How many more bottle fed babies is Jordan helping to create with her SMA (well paid) campaign?
The infant formula industry is responsible for a lot of the dioxins and toxins in our soil, air and water…the very things now being found in breast milk! And they tell breast feeding women to switch to formula because of toxins in breast milk!!!!??? The mind boggles. Yep, let's get the whole darn world on to formula...that'll fix everything. NOT!
The waste produced, and then dumped, as a result of millions upon millions of babies being fed fake milk is destroying our planet. It's one of the biggest environmental crimes going ~ yet ignored by media and government.
I make no apologies for my rant. The whole thing with Jordan being used to promote infant formula in OK! seems to me to be utterly unethical. She's promoting a way of life that has implications beyond anything she is capable of comprehending. She already has a sick child, so I'm stunned that she isn't doing everything possible to raise this one in an optimal way.
One and a half million babies a year die from fake milk and thousands upon thousands are made ill. Why would anyone with more than two brain cells, or a beating heart, even think of promoting such a deadly substance? Oh, I forgot! Silly me…she was paid for it.
Her littlest one is five weeks old and already Jordan is back out nightclubbing. This is a classic sign that she hasn't bonded with her child ~ clearly seen from choosing to have her baby delivered (like a pizza) rather than born, and choosing to not breastfeed (thereby keeping her heart chakra well and truly closed!). An infant is intensely needy for her mother's arms. All babies are for at least nine months of age.
Studies show that babies who don't breastfeed are more likely to be abandoned by their mother. Jordan abandons her baby by the act of giving her a dummy and going off dancing. But it's ok, isn't it? It's NORMAL in our culture to do this. That's what mums do. It's actively encouraged to be 'free' from your baby and live a 'normal life'.
But I ask, based on all the studies and research into infant care, why hasn't she been charged with child neglect? Sadly, we live in a culture where that's reserved for women who birth unassisted or breastfeed their babies beyond 12 months of age.
Whatever happened to real mothers? They're few and far between.
I'm glad ever so glad Jordan wasn't my mother.
HOT MILK ~ the Australian breastfeeding conference which forgot its purpose...
Today's cuppa: something strong!
The Australian Breastfeeding Association just hosted a national conference. Looking at the literature, it looked like an event no lactivist would want to miss…EXCEPT, I think they forgot the purpose of their goal ~ to promote breastfeeding.
Here's why. In their conference bag was an advert (there was also a trade stand) for a baby timing device. This bleeps you when baby needs to sleep or feed (the feed was indicated by a bottle symbol!??) The ad was repeated in the conference programme. Mothers don't need timing devices! If you are with your baby all the time (which you should be) you'll 'feel' when she's hungry or sleepy. If you are with your baby, as nature designed it to be, you'll be in her electro-magnetic field and aware of everything she's experiencing. This is the 'true' meaning of bonding.
There were ads for Nutricia Caricare Gold (which has been banned in NZ due to safety concerns) with the heading FEED THEIR IMMUNE SYSTEM FROM THE INSIDE OUT
and
WHY BELLAMY'S ORGANIC TODDLER MILK DRINK IS YOUR BEST CHOICE.
And for dessert they served ice cream by the baby murderers, known to most as Nestle!
Forgive me, but I just don't GET IT! This was meant to be a breastfeeding conference.
Cholesterol drug for men over 50
Today's Cuppa: Olive leaf tea
I couldn't believe it when I heard a news report the other week saying the government want all men over fifty to have a drug to reduce cholesterol. One more way of controlling the masses? You'd better believe it! Can we honestly trust any drug or vaccine? Call me a sceptic, but where there is money to be made… And let's face it, the cholesterol drug is the highest earning drug of all time, so why wouldn't our mates at Downing Street want to make it mandatory?
As someone married to a man over 50, there's no way I'd *LET* him buy into this rubbish! Doctors usually recommend drugs to balance cholesterol. BUT WHY? Nature adequately provides stanols in foods like olive oil, tomatoes, apples and almonds. Tragically, many, many thousands of men will heed this government suggestion/fear-based warning and take the drug. It strikes me as unethical, if not financially greedy, to offer this solution to the masses, rather than educating them about better health.
Cholesterol is a lifestyle dis-ease. Change the lifestyle, don't cover it up with a band-aid like a drug. What's the point? The stresses will only find another route through which to get your attention.
There are three key factors with cholesterol ~ diet, exercise and stress levels. In order to lower cholesterol it's important not to have a lot of animal fat (including butter, cheese and eggs). It's usually found that vegetarians and vegans have lower cholesterol levels ~ providing they're not living of Macdonald's cheese burgers!! If you're serious about reducing cholesterol, cut out all animal products.
Cholesterol is produced mostly by the liver. You can cleanse the liver by drinking nettle and dandelion tea alternatively. A herb tincture of Milk Thistle and/or artichoke is particularly helpful. Use olive oil instead of butter.
Omega 3 oil has been shown to increase HDL cholesterol and protect the heart against heart disease. This is best consumed from algae oil or flaxseed oil ~ studies from King's College, London, show that it is more easily absorbed than fish oil (more ethical too).
*Hemp oil is brilliant. Include it 'raw' in your salad dressings, or have it in a smoothie. Try and include it in your diet at least three times a week. It's simple to use…a few tablespoons mixed with a large spoon of apple cyder vinegar, a spoon of agave syrup or honey, a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, a crushed garlic clove, and a sprinkling of fresh herbs and you've a great salad dressing!
*Also add high fibre foods such as beans, whole grains, fruits and vegetables as they soak up the cholesterol. These should be part of a healthy lifestyle anyway!
*You can also include psyllium hulls, apple fibre and oat bran. If everyone ate a couple of apples a day their whole digestive system would benefit enormously. They act like a vacuum cleaner along the intestinal tract.
* Olive leaf tea is very effective.
* Numerous studies worldwide show that raw garlic is brilliant in lowering cholesterol.
* Red yeast rice has been found to lower cholesterol.
Exercise is vital ~ 45 minutes - 60 minutes daily. This can be brisk walking, rebounding, swimming…anything that gets the heart working.
It's important to find an exercise you love so that you stick with it. I'm always astonished by the number of people who say their lifestyle is too busy to include exercise. We're a long time dead ~ make time to move! If you've got time to watch Big Brother, you've got time to exercise.
Personally, I find my daily 3 mile walk as beneficial to my mind as to my physical health. It's my time out away from everything.
Stress management
There are various ways to balance/reduce stress. Exercise is a great start. Meditation; finding ways to have 'alone' time where nothing matters; going to bed early, a long bath WITHOUT kids alongside!
Sometimes, especially as busy parents, we have to get creative in how we find time and space for ourselves.
Friday, August 03, 2007
The Drinks Are On Me ~ everything your mother never told you about breastfeeding
Today's cuppa: It's got to be fennel tea ~ that wonderfully aromatic aniseed flavoured brew to help increase breast milk. I still drink it even though I'm not lactating. My husband has even started drinking fennel tea despite having an aversion to herbal teas!
It's world Breastfeeding Awareness Week. There's so much to be said about breastfeeding that what else could I do but write a book! So, here's a shameless plug. It's being published in just a few short weeks.
The Drinks Are On Me
Everything your mother never told you about breastfeeding
by Veronika Sophia Robinson
The Drinks Are On Me reclaims and celebrates the ancient art of breastfeeding ~ a natural way of feeding our babies which has allowed humanity to exist for half a million years. The book argues that the increase in physical, emotional and psycho-sexual dysfunction seen throughout western society is in direct proportion to our rapidly decreasing breastfeeding rates. Our healthy existence as a species is dependent on full-term breastfeeding becoming the norm again.
I draw on my rich experiences as a breastfeeding mother ~ a ten year journey which included five years of tandem nursing ~ and explain why breastfeeding is vital for the healthy continuation of the species. Embracing a holistic view, I show how to overcome common, and not so common, breastfeeding challenges, whether they be physical, emotional or cultural.
This book is equally suitable for new and experienced mothers. It’s essential reading for all professionals (doctors, midwives, dentists and health visitors) who influence a mother’s choice to breastfeed or not (and thoroughly referenced lest there be any doubt to the claims made!).
Everything your mother never told you about breastfeeding
by Veronika Sophia Robinson
The Drinks Are On Me reclaims and celebrates the ancient art of breastfeeding ~ a natural way of feeding our babies which has allowed humanity to exist for half a million years. The book argues that the increase in physical, emotional and psycho-sexual dysfunction seen throughout western society is in direct proportion to our rapidly decreasing breastfeeding rates. Our healthy existence as a species is dependent on full-term breastfeeding becoming the norm again.
I draw on my rich experiences as a breastfeeding mother ~ a ten year journey which included five years of tandem nursing ~ and explain why breastfeeding is vital for the healthy continuation of the species. Embracing a holistic view, I show how to overcome common, and not so common, breastfeeding challenges, whether they be physical, emotional or cultural.
This book is equally suitable for new and experienced mothers. It’s essential reading for all professionals (doctors, midwives, dentists and health visitors) who influence a mother’s choice to breastfeed or not (and thoroughly referenced lest there be any doubt to the claims made!).
I deliberately take a step outside the usual breastfeeding knowledge to present a new framework in which to view how we nourish and nurture our children.
Publishing September 1st 2007
Art of Change
ISBN 978-0-9530063-4-2
204pp
£11.99pb
Contents include:
How to breastfeed
Colostrum
Premature babies in NICU & SCBU
Vitamin K and vitamin D
Engorgement, plugged milk ducts & mastitis
Breastfeeding and AIDS
Caesareans and breastfeeding
Jaundice
Tongue Tie ~ short frenulum
Cleft lip/palate
Nursing multiples
Down’s Syndrome
Teething and colic
Men and breastfeeding
Breastfeeding in pregnancy
Breastfeeding a toddler
Breastfeeding in public
A holistic approach to sexuality
Toxins and breast milk
Breastfeeding and the environment/the impact formula feeding has on the air, water and soil
A natural approach to weaning
Nutrients and the human brain
Full-term breastfeeding
Non-nutritive sucking
Women who can’t breastfeed
Sustained breastfeeding for a peaceful society
Adoption and breastfeeding
Reclaiming the sacred feminine
Thoroughly referenced, this book presents uncommon breastfeeding information and debunks many myths in order to help mothers make a truly informed decision about breastfeeding.
Publishing September 1st 2007
Art of Change
ISBN 978-0-9530063-4-2
204pp
£11.99pb
Contents include:
How to breastfeed
Colostrum
Premature babies in NICU & SCBU
Vitamin K and vitamin D
Engorgement, plugged milk ducts & mastitis
Breastfeeding and AIDS
Caesareans and breastfeeding
Jaundice
Tongue Tie ~ short frenulum
Cleft lip/palate
Nursing multiples
Down’s Syndrome
Teething and colic
Men and breastfeeding
Breastfeeding in pregnancy
Breastfeeding a toddler
Breastfeeding in public
A holistic approach to sexuality
Toxins and breast milk
Breastfeeding and the environment/the impact formula feeding has on the air, water and soil
A natural approach to weaning
Nutrients and the human brain
Full-term breastfeeding
Non-nutritive sucking
Women who can’t breastfeed
Sustained breastfeeding for a peaceful society
Adoption and breastfeeding
Reclaiming the sacred feminine
Thoroughly referenced, this book presents uncommon breastfeeding information and debunks many myths in order to help mothers make a truly informed decision about breastfeeding.
Breast milk is our greatest natural food resource and as locally produced as food gets!
PUBLISHER: The Art of Change
For further information, please contact Barry Durdant-Hollamby: themother@artofchange.co.uk OR artofchange@msn.com or phone +44 (0) 1342 823 809 www.artofchange.co.uk
PO Box 441, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH18 5DH England
Saturday, July 28, 2007
The Love Vessel
Today's Cuppa: calming chamomile
I was out amongst The Muggles today…and found myself desperately holding back tears as I witnessed a vicious attack. Unfortunately, it was one of those attacks where cultural taboos prevented me from stepping in, something I now regret.
Standing in the queue of Penrith Post Office, I watched a man go ballistic at his son when he discovered he hadn't brought money to pay for a parcel they were sending. It turned out the father didn't have any cash on him either. He *could* have apologised to the teller and said, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, can you hold this parcel till we go and get my wallet?" Instead, he emotionally (and mentally and spiritually) pummelled his teenage son to the ground. That *we* can do this to those we love the most is mind-numbing. A bonded parent would have found other (harmless) ways to express frustration. To have inflicted such psychic violence and torture on this boy in public, leaves me questioning how he behaves when he's not on best behaviour in front of twenty plus witnesses. I have had similar feelings watching twenty stone men raising their body against tiny toddlers in supermarkets saying "You just wait till we get home!"
I was energetically shattered by witnessing this attack, in much the same way as when I've seen CCTV footage of brutal physical beatings on tv.
A short time later I was in another building when a man in his fifties started his tirade. When his wife asked if he'd finished the shopping, he loudly and rudely said "If you stopped minding everyone else's business and got your fat arse over here, we'd have had the shopping done."
Mantra-like, I chimed in the four walls of my mental prison ~ "It's none of your business, Veronika! It's none of your business, Veronika! It's none of your business, Veronika! It's none of your business, Veronika!"
Holes formed in my tongue as I forced myself away from them. I'd have liked to ask the man, gently of course, if he had any idea of how nasty and vulgar his tone was to her ~ the love of his life. Was it necessary to speak to her like that? And to ask her, "WHY do you allow him to speak to you like that?"
Where is the love? Where is the LOVE??????? Don't you know, can't you FEEL, that violence only breeds more violence?
Look into each other's eyes. You're not enemies. You're connected by Divine Thread. To hurt each other, is to hurt your self. Why would you inflict such pain on yourself?
This hostility is so alien to me that when I witness such scenes I beg the gods to transport me back to my own planet. "Please, have mercy!"
I'm no saint by any means, and live an imperfect life, but the widespread dysfunction which exists in our society is truly frightening. All the ideas I want to instil into the mass consciousness about love, bonding and optimal parenting, are simply foreign tongue to the masses.
I would never stay in a relationship in which I was treated with anything less than respect and love.
Back home now, in my humble Love Shack, I can breathe again. Drawbridge hoisted up firmly, I reflect on a species so far out of touch with the good and brilliant within them. What a waste.
Creating a space of love must start with our self. When we're able to love and respect every aspect of our being it becomes impossible for another to enter that space in an attitude of anything less than reverence, love, gratitude, humour (not sarcasm) and harmony.
Really simple science = we're mostly made of water, a vibrational, magnetic substance. Fill your inner vessel with peace and purity and you simply must attract the same back into your life.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Empowered Mothering
Today's Cuppa: Pure, living water (aka breast milk direct from source)
We are at our most empowered, as mothers, when we do not rely on modern technology to fulfil our role. This has been brought home to me many times this week when observing and listening to the many people caught up in the flooding of central and southern England. There are countless babies at the mercy of other people who are bringing in clean water so parents can make up counterfeit milk.
My heart absolutely goes out to everyone devastated by these floods…as much as to the 200 people who died in floods in China this week, and the 500 who've died in the Hungarian heat wave.
It does remind me, though, just how far removed we are from our natural mothering instincts that young babies aren't even drinking from their mother ~ someone who could offer them 'living water' on tap regardless of external influences.
We think we can replace breast milk with something as inadequate as a static 'formula'. We even have the cheek to call it 'milk', as if we were offering our babies the elixir of life! Collectively, we have allowed our culture to hypnotise us into thinking breastfeeding is an embarrassment, something reserved for primitives.
Hygeia Halfmoon, author of Primal mothering in a modern world, recalls being evacuated in Hawaii after a natural disaster ( I can't recall if it was an earthquake or erupting volcano) and sitting in a large centre with all the evacuees. All the babies were screaming from hunger as there was no access to formula or fresh water. She was the only one breastfeeding. Can you imagine how heartbreaking it would be to know you could feed a number of other children from your breasts, had they not lost their sucking reflex by being introduced to bottle-feeding?
Empowered mothering doesn't rely on man-made products, be they drink, food, sleeping prisons, monitors, bottles and so on. Your body, mind and heart contain everything needed to parent beautifully and with integrity for the reciprocal bonding of mother and child.
We are at our most empowered, as mothers, when we do not rely on modern technology to fulfil our role. This has been brought home to me many times this week when observing and listening to the many people caught up in the flooding of central and southern England. There are countless babies at the mercy of other people who are bringing in clean water so parents can make up counterfeit milk.
My heart absolutely goes out to everyone devastated by these floods…as much as to the 200 people who died in floods in China this week, and the 500 who've died in the Hungarian heat wave.
It does remind me, though, just how far removed we are from our natural mothering instincts that young babies aren't even drinking from their mother ~ someone who could offer them 'living water' on tap regardless of external influences.
We think we can replace breast milk with something as inadequate as a static 'formula'. We even have the cheek to call it 'milk', as if we were offering our babies the elixir of life! Collectively, we have allowed our culture to hypnotise us into thinking breastfeeding is an embarrassment, something reserved for primitives.
Hygeia Halfmoon, author of Primal mothering in a modern world, recalls being evacuated in Hawaii after a natural disaster ( I can't recall if it was an earthquake or erupting volcano) and sitting in a large centre with all the evacuees. All the babies were screaming from hunger as there was no access to formula or fresh water. She was the only one breastfeeding. Can you imagine how heartbreaking it would be to know you could feed a number of other children from your breasts, had they not lost their sucking reflex by being introduced to bottle-feeding?
Empowered mothering doesn't rely on man-made products, be they drink, food, sleeping prisons, monitors, bottles and so on. Your body, mind and heart contain everything needed to parent beautifully and with integrity for the reciprocal bonding of mother and child.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Unassisted birth observational documentary for Granada TV
To follow is an invite from Granada TV.
Here in the UK there is a growing interest in Freebirthing and I am presently working on an observational documentary for Granada TV on the growing movement in the UK and how women are increasingly choosing to have a more natural birth for their child.
I would love to speak with women who are planning an unassisted birth for their baby and who are passionate about their reasons and their right to choose. If this is you I would really appreciate the opportunity to talk with you about your experience and future plans.
To reassure you it will be a positive and informative documentary that hopefully will answer questions about this type of childbirth. We are interested to know if you had a bad experience in hospital that has lead you to this decision?
Your identity would be protected if this is something you would require and I would like to reassure any expectant mothers that we will not intrude on your labour with a film crew - there are ways we can capture the birth without the need for other people.
I can be contacted by email on Helen.Crocombe@itv.com or telephone 0207 261 3806 so please do get in touch as your involvement is important to us.
Here in the UK there is a growing interest in Freebirthing and I am presently working on an observational documentary for Granada TV on the growing movement in the UK and how women are increasingly choosing to have a more natural birth for their child.
I would love to speak with women who are planning an unassisted birth for their baby and who are passionate about their reasons and their right to choose. If this is you I would really appreciate the opportunity to talk with you about your experience and future plans.
To reassure you it will be a positive and informative documentary that hopefully will answer questions about this type of childbirth. We are interested to know if you had a bad experience in hospital that has lead you to this decision?
Your identity would be protected if this is something you would require and I would like to reassure any expectant mothers that we will not intrude on your labour with a film crew - there are ways we can capture the birth without the need for other people.
I can be contacted by email on Helen.Crocombe@itv.com or telephone 0207 261 3806 so please do get in touch as your involvement is important to us.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Breastfeeding myths
Bethany in Forest Row last weekend.
Today's Cuppa: Ginger and orange tea
I mentioned in my last blog entry the constant tug of war within me ~ isolating myself from society, or being very much part of it and educating others.
One topic which certainly has the old tug of war rope chaffing my stretch-marked belly is that of breastfeeding. I've endured a lot of flak in the past year and a half over appearing in the Extraordinary Breastfeeding documentary. Unfortunately, the programme did very little to educate the ignorant masses who still see feeding our infants and children as something optional or even unnecessary, if not downright disgusting ~ something akin to urinating in public. The mind boggles. Clearly some people really can't tell the difference between a living food and a bodily waste product.
Those people aside, one of my biggest frustrations is related to people who work in the parenting field who perpetuate myths.
The biggest ones are:
1.) It's normal for breastfeeding to hurt ~ expect sore nipples
Nipple pain is either caused by an infection (such as thrush or herpes) or, most commonly, by incorrect latch-on. It's important for all mothers to know that nipple pain is completely avoidable, and not a 'normal' part of breastfeeding, and that the first sign of discomfort for any mother is a warning bell that her baby isn't latched-on properly.
Nipple pain is never a matter of bad luck,
but to do with breastfeeding mismanagement.
In order to increase breastfeeding rates, we have to ensure women are given correct information so they can avoid discomfort, and enjoy breastfeeding for the pleasurable experience it was designed to be.
We would see a tripling of breastfeeding rates (according to the British Medical Journal) if women gathered in breastfeeding groups to learn about breastfeeding. A sad consequence of our nuclear family society is that most women don't get to witness breastfeeding until they have their own baby. How tragic, given it is something so fundamental to the survival of the human species. Breastfeeding has become a dying art. Without breastfeeding, humanity as a species will deteriorate, and then die out.
2.) Bottlefeeding allows dad to bond with baby ~ so get expressing.
Breast milk was never meant to see the light of day, and we do the baby, mother and the father a disservice to suggest bottle-feeding as a way of bonding. Our aim as parents should be to raise our children optimally, not to compromise them in any way. Bottle-feeding is a massive compromise and should be reserved for emergencies, not used as a lifestyle choice.
When a father feels 'left out' by the breastfeeding experience, this is to do with subconscious memories of his own feeding experience in infancy.
Had his needs been fully met in infancy and childhood, there'd be no reason for him to feel left out as a parent.
3.) Babies need iron by six months of age
I've just read a 'natural' parenting magazine which allowed the iron myth to be published…again undermining successful, exclusive breastfeeding beyond the six month age.
There are so many studies which prove that a breastfed baby has plenty of access to adequate iron in breast milk (regardless of the mother's iron status!). The confusion and misinformation regarding infants and iron has been taken from formula fed babies' tendency towards anaemia, and reliance on synthetic iron. The vitamin c in breast milk allows the iron in it to be utilised by the baby.
If you are seriously concerned about your baby's iron levels, then keep up with exclusive breastfeeding! As soon as you introduce solids you are reducing the body's ability to absorb iron. Sadly, the most common foods introduced to babies (rice, cereals, etc ~ in the belief they'll supply iron) are the worst things that should be introduced in the first or second year of life. If you must introduce solids, stick to RIPE, raw fruit and NEVER introduce any food before six months of age. Anything else is a massive insult on a premature digestive system.
My own daughters weren't introduced to solids until the end of their first year of life. They've never had commercial baby food. Their 'weaning' foods were organic bananas, avocados, strawberries, pears, apple, etc.
Later in their second year they had some lightly steamed sweet potato, pumpkin and broccoli. It wasn't until their third year they were introduced to the meals Paul and I were having. They've always been good eaters and not fussy about fruit and vegetables as commonly reported amongst children. Sure, they have their likes and dislikes, but for the most part they eat a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, seeds, whole grains and nuts.
4.) She's ready for solids
There's so much pressure to introduce solids to babies. I believe it is all part of the cultural bulldozer which seeks to separate mother and child. It's all heavily camouflaged behind the idea that when a baby is putting things in her mouth, or having a growth spurt, that she's ready for food. Breast milk IS FOOD!
TV presenter Lorraine Kelly labours under the misguided belief that babies should be fully weaned as soon as their first teeth appear. How much would she eat if her mouth contained just two, tiny pearly whites?
Why does common sense go out the window in so many aspects of child rearing?
5.) Formula milk is as good as breast milk
Formula is a static product. It shouldn't even have the world milk tacked onto the end of it. No matter how many artificial and synthetic vitamins and minerals the companies add to it, it is impossible to come remotely close to what nature intended our children to feed on for their first few years of life.
Recently I was sent a press release by a group of breastfeeding mothers in London showing some statistics regarding their ideas on breastfeeding; dismal to say the least. One of the quotes in the release went something like this: "Anyone would think formula was poison and that I was murdering my baby by giving him formula instead of breast milk."
Well, the more you educate yourself about breast milk, it's pretty hard to conclude anything else. Personally, I would put it in the category of poison.
I would move the earth (and moon) to give my children breast milk. Formula wouldn't even be a last resort!
There are so many reasons why I get frustrated by the constant pushing of infant formula. It isn't just about its complete inadequacy in providing optimum nutrition, but also because it simply can not provide for our long term emotional and mental needs. There are biochemical nutrients in breast milk with are absolutely CRUCIAL to our long term emotional health. Formula can never provide for this.
Work done by the marvellous James Prescott PhD shows that by breastfeeding for 2.5 years or longer, an absence of suicides and depression was found in most cultures. Breastfeeding bonding (affectional bonding) is imperative in a culture which seeks to live peacefully.
Some of the leading health problems in the world related to sexual, social, mental or emotional dysfunction (such as rape, suicide, depression and homicide) are found in cultures with next to non-existent breastfeeding in infancy and childhood.
Breastfeeding statistics are appalling. As a culture we have NO excuse for this!! We consider ourselves in first world countries to be rich ~ nothing could be further from the truth.
In the US, for example,
6.8% breastfed at 12 months
2.7% breastfed for 24 months or more
1% was breastfed for 30 months or more
How is it that 97% of children are not even meeting the minimum age set for breastfeeding by the hugely conservative World Health Organisation? Have we simply made it too easy for women to choose fake milk? Tribal cultures wouldn't even be able to comprehend such statistics. They don't have incidences of women 'choosing' not to breastfeed or believing that they can't breastfeed. They just do it!
If we didn't have formula milk companies we wouldn't have stats like those above. We'd have a 99% breastfeeding-from-mother rate, and in cases where a mother was unable to breastfeed due to illness (or death) a wet nurse would be available for the child. In my book, The Drinks Are On Me, I take a look at the spiritual and emotional reasons behind a woman's belief that she 'didn't have any/enough breast milk'.
Every time I see a breastfeeding myth perpetuated, I see breastfeeding slip further away from humanity's grasp. We simply won't survive many more generations without this optimal source of nutrition and bonding. A destructive culture has no choice but to destroy itself. Violence is like a cancer.
How will we ever explain to future generations that we had the evidence for full-term sustained breastfeeding, but as a culture we chose to ignore it?
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